The Wrong Side of the Bed
by Oparu
Summary: The Aztec's believed a careless human soul could be replaced during a lunar eclipse.I found it slightly more amusing than the Aztec's did.
1. Chapter 1

_When the moon becomes old and tired, Quetzalcoatl, the great world serpent, consumes the moon and replaces it with a fresh source of light for the people of earth. The brief period of darkness that follows his consumption of the moon is a time of great danger in the myths of the Aztec. A careless human soul observing such an event can be displaced by a demon, or even another human being._

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* * *

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The alarm went rang angrily on the nightstand until Gregory's hand put a stop to the noise. Reaching groggily for his watch, he blinked at the sleepy darkness around him. 3:31 am. He looked at his alarm again, uncertain if he should chuck the damn thing into the garbage or try and reset it. He was leaning towards the former when he remembered Sean.

Sean had to observe the lunar eclipse for his astronomy class. Sean was notorious for having trouble getting up in the morning, and as parents the responsibility of making sure he saw the astronomic phenomenon had fallen to Olivia and himself. Sean's lack of enthusiasm for the morning hours was unfortunately an inherited condition, as Olivia slept on at his left elbow.

Gregory kissed her cheek, begging the often arduous process of coazing her awake as delicately as he possibly could. She stirred slightly but rolled away from him in her sleep. He snapped his watch onto his wrist and reached for his alarm to adjust it to a proper hour.

"Olivia." He began patiently without expecting an answer. Gregory stood up, flicking on the bedroom light as he pulled on his robe from the closet. "I'm going downstairs. The light stays on-"

She pulled the covers over her head and he chuckled in mild amusement.

"I will have coffee ready when I get back, and you will get up and watch this eclipse with Sean and I-" Gregory walked to her pillow, peeling to covers back to kiss her forehead even as she wrinkled it in disgust at the light. "Because you're the one who encouraged him to take this class."

She batted at him sleepily, but he dodged her easily and headed downstairs. As he predicted, she spent the five minutes it took him to grind coffee, heat the water and drag their complaining son out of bed, clinging to the last tendrils of sleep. Pulling the covers from her as he pressed the coffee cup into her hand, Gregory made sure she was avoiding the temptation of her pillow before he fetched her robe from her side of the closet. She declined to speak. She rarely bothered to for several minutes after being roused from sleep.

Sean was the same way. He stood on the edge of the balcony with his notebook and stopwatch in hand without saying a word to either of his parents. The August night had a premature hint of fall in the air, and the breeze off the ocean was cool. Olivia gratefully found refuge in the warm arms of her husband as they waited for the moon to lose its' roundness.

Gregory felt his impatience melt as her head slipped comfortably into the hollow of neck and shoulder. There was a certain peace to the early morning and watching Sean work on his assignment gave him a sense of family he hadn't felt in some time. Sean rarely talked about what he was doing, and the mere mention of the this task some days ago over dinner had been enough to make it a family outing. Caitlin wouldn't be roused at this hour for anything short of the apocalypse, but it was pleasant in a way dear to his heart that Olivia was in his arms and Sean was smiling at him. Albeit a groggy smile of too little sleep, but a smile nonetheless.

The moon began to disappear slowly, as if a child had taken a tiny bite out of the left side and decided she liked it enough to enlarge the bite. The circle obscuring the golden surface of the moon grew quickly after that. It expanded across the face of the moon, tingeing it red as went before eating it away to black.

Olivia smiled at it, deciding it really was quite beautiful. She'd never bothered to watch one before, preferring the comfort of her bed to scientific curiousity. Even now she found the pleasure it in purely aesthetic. The explaination Sean was giving to Gregory was rather dull compared to the sweet wonder of watching the constant moon vanish away to nothing. She couldn't help enjoying it.

The moon was nearly gone now, only a burnt silver remained in the sky. She felt her breath quicken with childlike excitement and Olivia chastised herself for being so easily swayed. Then Gregory sneezed. The sudden motion and the way she nearly fell out of his embrace drew her attention away.

The moment of complete darkness, when the moon was entirely eaten by the shadow of the earth was lost on both of them. Olivia looked up into Gregory's eyes and felt herself drift towards the warm brown of his eyes.

Spike must have been on the balcony. Gregory heard her whisper as he felt himself sink into the soft blue eyes smiling up at him.

That mutt must have been up here. Olivia heard him say with the annoyance he reserved only for Tiffany or Cole.

Sean's gasp of wonder drew their attention back to the eclipse. But they had missed it. The moon was starting to reappear bit by bit on the right hand edge. They shared a sigh of loss as they realized what they had missed, but they both smiled cheerfully at Sean as he turned to them with tired glee.

"That was great."

His parents yawned sleepily in unison, making him laugh as they opened the door and ushered him in just ahead of them. He watched them disappear back into their bedroom together with a ray of hope. They'd been doing so well lately. They were close again. Sweet to each other again. It was almost as if they loved each other, like parents were supposed too. Like other children's parents did. He offered a silent prayer that they'd continue to find a way to understand each other. To see through each other's eyes somehow and find the middle ground.

* * *

Gregory's alarm went off stubbornly at 5:45, his preferred hour to start the morning. Olivia turned away from the sound, as she always did, and started to go back to sleep for the second time that morning. A hand hit her in the chest and she started awake for two reasons that jolted her sleepy mind.

First, the hand came from the wrong side. If Gregory was trying to wake her his hand would have come from the right. He slept on her right side. He had for twenty years. A hand from the left implied someone was on her side of the bed and that didn't make any sense either.

Secondly, the hand had impacted not on the soft flesh of her breasts as she expected, given the angle, but onto the hardness of ribs beneath her muscles. She was still mulling over the oddness of that fact alone when she heard her own voice.

"Where is that dammed alarm clock?"

It was her voice that carried through the jarring sound of the alarm but she wasn't speaking. She was sure she hadn't spoke.

Her arm shot out instinctually to shut it off. Olivia looked down at her arm. She was wearing Gregory's blue pajamas. That didn't make any sense at all. They'd been too tired to fool around when they returned to bed. She was wearing her ivory nightgown, the one Gregory found so elegant, but now she wasn't.

The light came on with a curse from her left. "What the hell?" Again, it was her voice, but she wasn't speaking. Olivia was beginning to wonder if this was the strangest dream she'd ever had, when she turned towards the curse and saw herself staring back at her.

She squeaked in surprised, twice shocked as her voice came out deep and masculine. Pulling her knees up to her chest in shock, Olivia watched her own hand reach out for her face in confused amazement.

"My God." Gregory felt the rough stubble on his own chin with the dainty feminine had that for some reason completely beyond him, responded to his commands. "Who are you?" His voice was too high. Too soft and melodic to be his.

The face that looked like him raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Who are you?" There was fear in the voice that was supposed to be his. A sense of foreboding that made him feel guilty for not being better equipped to answer that question.

He got out of bed, throughly confused as he swung his legs over Olivia's side of the bed. The bedroom was slightly larger then he remembered. His feet felt smaller and his nightgown- Gregory stopped short when he realized he was wearing an ivory silk nightgown. Looking down over his legs and stomach he laughed as he realized for the first time in his life, he was looking down his own cleavage.

"This is a dream." Olivia's voice, but the words were his. He nearly ran to her closet, opening the door to expose the mirror. He looked into Olivia's face. Her eyes were laughing at his confusion as he reached up and touched her nose, she did in the mirror. As his hands ran over his face, his neck, his shoulders, the Olivia in the mirror followed each one of his motions.

"Is it your dream?" Gregory's voice asked him gently from behind him.

He turned around, watching himself sit daintily on the edge of the bed.

"If it's your dream, why does it seem so real to me?" His voice asked him again as his doppelganger stood up and ran a hand through his hair.

Olivia felt her hair, and stopped in astonishment. Her hair was cut close to her head, shorter than she'd ever had her own. She started to say something, to ask the version of herself in front of her why she couldn't just wake up, when she looked past her double into the mirror behind her.

Into Gregory's eyes. It was Gregory's hand on his hip in the mirror. His other hand that pulled at his hair tentatively. His jaw that dropped open in surprise. "You're me." She whispered finally.


	2. inside your eyes

Her double folded her arms angrily and glared at her. "No I'm not. I'm Gregory." Her voice complained petulantly. "You have my body and I'm stuck in yours for some reason-"

"But how?" Olivia asked as she furrowed her forehead in confusion. The expression looked so funny on Gregory's face in the mirror that she started to giggle in spite of herself.

"Dammit Olivia, don't ask me how, I have no idea!" Gregory threw up his arms in confusion. Staring down at his legs, he tried to figure out just what he was feeling. "Do you feel dizzy?"

Olivia took stock of her new body. She was taller, the room seemed just a bit smaller then she remembered. Her legs were strong and something she was entirely unused to having brushed against her thigh within the fabric of her pajamas. Her chest was flat and the hair on it tickled her fingers as she ran them up her neck. She had stubble, she realized with another giggle that sounded entirely wrong in her throat as it bubbled up in a masculine voice. She felt herself smile.

"I feel fine." In fact, as she thought about it, she felt better than fine. Good, exhilarated even. Gregory's body was obviously ready to face the day and it was an entirely new sensation. "Great even."

Her body, the one she'd had for all of her forty-two years up to this point, turned to her and sighed in confusion. "I'm dizzy."

Olivia reached out with her new hands, surprised by how small her former shoulders were. How soft the skin was beneath her fingers. "I wasn't feeling well yesterday, I might still have- I mean, You might still have the flu." She suggested, biting back a laugh. "I sound just like you."

"Of course you do." Gregory complained with his newly feminine voice. "You've got my body." He sank down on the love seat and stared up at her in frustration. "And if I have the flu, I think I got the bad end of the trade."

"I'm sorry darling." She sat on the love seat next to him, starting to lean her head on his shoulder before she realized she was too tall. "Are we dreaming? Can we even do that? Can two people share the same dream?"

"Anything's possible Liv." Gregory pointed out as his head dropped to his hands. His long dark hair curled over his hands, and Olivia smiled in amusement as he batted at it before realized what it was. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to ignore how small and vulnerable he felt out of his own body. "I've never had a dream like this before."

Olivia smiled softly, reaching for his hand. "Me either. Do you think we'll wake up soon?"

Gregory felt odd with her larger hand wrapped around his, he felt like a small child wanting to crawl back into bed with his parents. "I have no idea."

Olivia moved their hands, cupping his chin and looking into his eyes. "It's so strange. I can see you in there, behind my eyes. You have my eyes, but they're yours at the same time."

He looked up and tried to see what she was talking about. Staring into his own face was too odd for words. "Does it always feel like this when I touch you-" Gregory paused and tried to rethink what he was saying. "When you touch me, my heart speeds up."

Olivia smiled, blushing softly as she nodded. The blush was misplaced on Gregory's face as he watched it spread across her cheekbones. "Always has."

He touched reached for her cheek, feeling the stubble under his fingers. "Wow." Gregory whispered as he felt his heart skip another beat. "I had no idea."

Olivia leaned closer, awkwardly kissing his cheek. "No, you wouldn't." She teased as she stood up and headed to the bathroom.

Gregory heard her laugh as the toilet seat clanked down and the running of water as she washed her hands.

She titled her head, still tying the drawstring on her pants as she watched his bemused expression.

"Have a good time?" He teased back as he tried to take an inventory of her body. His shoulders were cold as he reached for the robe she'd left out on the end of the bed. He pulled it on, feeling the silk soft against his skin as he started to warm up. "I think you're- I'm-" Gregory paused as she returned to his side. "I'm sick to your stomach."

Olivia laughed again, but with a sympathetic smile. "I'm so sorry darling."

"I should be the one apologizing. You felt like this last night didn't you?" Gregory offered as he forced himself to his feet. "No wonder you feel asleep so early."

"Don't worry about it. Really-" Olivia ran a hand through his hair and Gregory smiled when he realized how comforting that was. "Whatever was going on with my body is your problem now unfortunately."

"Perhaps we should just go back to bed and wait to wake up from this dream." Gregory suggested as he tried to shake off the dizzy sensation.

Shaking her head as she played with the buttons of her pajamas, "I don't think I can sleep." Olivia put her hands on his shoulders again for a moment, before she readjusted to wrap her arms around his waist. She decided she enjoyed it. Gregory was small and soft in her arms. A warm feeling of power ran through her arms.

He shivered, but it was a different sensation than being cold. "I know I couldn't."

Olivia looked down at the heavy silver watch on her wrist. "It's almost a quarter after six. Should I get ready for work?"

Gregory turned around quickly, almost hitting his head on her chin. "You want to go to work?"

Olivia straightened his hair, tucking it back behind his ears as she decided to accept the dream. "That's what you do, isn't it? I'm sure you had something important to do today."

Gregory spent a moment in thought. "I've- I suppose you instead- have some paperwork to finish up after Elaine's trial yesterday, but under the circumstances you could afford a day off."

"And spend it with my darling wife?" Olivia teased sardonically. "How sweet of me."

She finally made Gregory laugh and as she tried to get over the strangeness of hearing herself laugh from outside her body she remembered what she had to do that day. Cole was still trying to run away with Caitlin. She'd just got Caitlin back. She couldn't loose her again.

Olivia felt a sudden surge of power as the idea formed in her mind. Of course she could. She could to better than just pay Cole off. She could put the fear of God into that smug little jewel thief. He hadn't faced Gregory. Cole hadn't considered the consequences of his misjudgment in that hotel room. He knew Gregory was cruel, certainly, but he had no idea what lengths Gregory would go to for his daughter. And Olivia had knowledge that Gregory lacked. Information that could be a lot of fun in these new hands of hers.

Gregory put his head on her shoulder, sighing thoughtfully as he tried to come up with a plan for the day. "We agree that we're dreaming. Now there's a chance, however remote, that for some reason beyond either of us, this is really happening."

Olivia nodded as she stood and headed for the Gregory's- her closet. She'd never gotten dressed as a man before and the curiousity was more fun then Gregory's plotting.

Gregory got up and started pacing as the foggy feeling in his head started to ease. "If that's the case we should-" He tapped his fingers irritably on the back of the sofa. "We can't go to the doctor because he'd put us both away. There has to be something we can do."

"Take a drive up the shore." Olivia suggested as she ran her hands over his shirts. "Just the two of us. Tell the kids we need some time to ourselves. After all, we're the only ones we can trust not to think we're insane."

"Aren't we?" Gregory asked as he stared into his new blue eyes in the mirror. "We've traded bodies. It is insane. It's the most insane thing I've ever heard."

Olivia grinned at him as she choose a tie. "I don't think you're looking at this the right way darling. It's probably just a dream and we'll wake up at any moment. You just told me you could afford to take the day off, we should enjoy it before we wake up and have to deal with real life."

Gregory looked at her imperiously, at least, it would have been imperious if he had his own face. Instead, he looked rather like he was pouting. Olivia was struck with the sudden urge to kiss him. She couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to be on the other side of a kiss. She reached for him, surprising him as she pulled him close. She had to lower her head, lean down to reach his lips.

They were soft and she was entirely unused to the sensation that ran down her stomach hot and insistent. Gregory was flushed when they broke apart.

Olivia watched the blush fade pink over his face and started to laugh. "I've never kissed a woman before."

Gregory gave her a stern look as he reached up to touch his mouth. "You've never been a man."

She put her hands in the pockets on her robe. "I look like one now."

He smirked as he raised an eyebrow. "But you stand like a woman. You make me look rather prissy."

Olivia hit him playfully in the shoulder. "Maybe you just are rather prissy and you never noticed before."

Gregory studied her with a strange look. "You kept your accent."

"I did?" She listened to her voice, trying to discern what she sounded like. "You're right. You don't sound like me, even though you have my voice. The inflection, it's still yours."

She started to laugh again and Gregory gave her an exasperated look. "I don't see what's so funny about this."

"Everything." Olivia pointed out cheerfully. "The way you keep making faces. The way your gestures look all wrong with my body. It might be a dream, but it's an amusing one." She rested her hand on her chest. "I've never looked at "me" the way your body does."

That got Gregory to smile sheepishly. "You're a stunningly beautiful woman."

"No darling-" Olivia pointed to his face in the mirror. "Today, you are."

He ran his hands up his stomach, stopping guiltily just before his breasts. Olivia hadn't seen him ogling them, had she? Gregory looked back at her in his body before she realized what she was talking about. A warm sensation settled in the pit of his stomach, chasing off the funny feeling for a moment as he looked at her.

"I've never-" He stopped, echoing her smile. "Found myself attractive before in quite this way."

Olivia looked down at her watch, giving him a seductive smile. "It's still before six-thirty. What time do I have to call the office?"

Gregory had to smirk when she referred to the office. "I'd call sometime before eight and confess I'm going to play hooky."

She ran a finger over his chin and down his neck. "That's more than an hour."

"Olivia-" He put his hands on his hips, and though he felt foolish doing it, it looked right in the mirror. He looked just like she did when she was being obstinate. "I don't know if that's the best idea."

"Oh come now-" She winked at him and reached for his lower back. Olivia felt her body respond to the mere presence of him and had to smile. She ran her fingers up his spine, just as he did when he was in the mood.

Gregory shivered and tried to pull out of her arms. "My god- Olivia do you know what that does to me?"

"Of course I do." She whispered just on the edge of his ear. "I know all your little tricks." She flicked out the tip of her tongue to run it over the soft spot just behind his ear. "And-" Olivia pulled him closer, feeling the heat start to make demands on her anatomy. "Your body certainly remembers what it wants."

He jumped back from her touch, unprepared to deal with the sensations she was creating. "I don't know how to do this."

She licked her lips, looking over her former body and running through the memories that still smoldered in her mind. "Oh darling, of course you do. You can't make love the way you do and not understand the other side."

Gregory still looked unconvinced but she reached for the tie on the front of his robe. "What was it you told me?" Olivia maneuvered him back towards the bed. "Just trust me." She whispered suggestively as she advanced on him. "Close your eyes and trust me."

He jumped as his legs hit the edge of the bed.

Olivia silenced his objections with a kiss, quickly discovering how to properly manipulate her tongue inside his mouth. "Think of it as an adventure. A new challenge you've never tried before." He sat down on the bed as she stripped his robe from his shoulders.

Gregory nodded finally, touching his lips again as the memory of her kiss pounded through him. "It doesn't seem odd to you?"

"Odd doesn't even begin to describe it." Olivia replied easily as she ran her hands up his thighs.

Shivering in anticipation of something he'd never felt before, Gregory looked up into her eyes for the spark that was her. "I've always wondered what you felt."

She leaned him back, grabbing his hip and forcing him towards the bed. His hand grabbed her shoulder suddenly, surprising her as she worked her way up from his neck.

He shrugged, hot embarrassment creeping into his face. "I'm not used to being on the bottom."

Olivia winked devilishly as she ran the rough skin of her palm over the thin layer of silk between her hand on his nipple. "You'll be all right. You just have to let go. You'll be surprised what my- your body, remembers."

He felt the thrill of her touch race through his chest. Concentrated on the smell of cologne that meant something so very different to the body he now inhabited. Then he found it. The part of physical memory that knew how to put his hands around her neck and pull her down to him. That hunger that wrapped his legs around her back and parted the way for her entrance.

Gregory kissed her back, feeling the morning stubble scrape against his cheek in a way that only increased his wanting. His involuntary moan surprised them both. He was so accustomed to the sound of her arousal that it took a moment to realize it was he who had let the breath slip past his lips. It was exhilarating, like his first kiss, or the first time he snuck at look at the older girls sunbathing nude on the beach.

Perhaps it was a dream after all. The way his blood was pounding hot in his head suggested it was real. Did her heart jump when he kissed her neck the way she was kissing his? It was almost too much to keep track of. The nearly painful tightness between his legs wanted something from her but he tried to concentrate on responding to her tongue inside of his lips.

Olivia was working him back farther onto the bed, How did she know what she was doing? She should be just as lost as he was, but instead she was leading. His hands- her hands now, ran up the outside of his thigh, hot beneath the silk of his nightgown. He found the the bone of her hip and dug his fingers into her side, pulling her closer to him. Where was it that she put her hands? Was it higher? Up on her shoulder blades?

He felt her rub against him and the shudder went down his spine and settled in the tight place. Olivia was still chuckling as she reached for the laces on the back of his nightgown. She knew how to undo it. He'd be naked soon. Suddenly he felt the blood blossom embarrassed across his face. He wasn't sure how he felt about being nude. What was she going to think? He buried his worries as he kissed his way down towards the first button on her shirt. If he was going to be nude, they both were-


	3. sixth sense

The knock on the door was as cruel as a bucket of ice water. Olivia jumped, turning to face the door just as the knob started to turn.

"Just a second!" Gregory called as he tried to detach himself from her arms. He didn't want to let go. Where had Caitlin learned her timing?

"Sorry mom." Caitlin called through the door. "I thought you'd still be sleeping, I just wanted to talk to daddy."

Olivia started to reply, but he jumped up and covered her mouth. "You have to respond to daddy now Liv." He ordered in a whisper.

"Can't we tell her the truth?" Olivia whispered back as she helped him with the strings on the back of his nightgown.

"She'll think we've both completely lost it." Gregory replied, surprised by the panic in his voice. "Do you think you can handle talking to my secretary? Carol will tease you about taking some time of but just tell her you and I want a little alone time. She's a hopeless romantic and she'll melt if you say you want to spend the day alone with me."

Olivia smiled in soft appreciation. "You tell her you want to spend the day alone with me often?"

He kissed her cheek, trying not to make a face when the stubble scratched his tender lips. "Not often enough. I'll try to talk to Cate, you head downstairs to call the office."

"You two ready yet?" She knocked again, terribly impatient for some reason this morning.

"In a moment darling-" Olivia replied without thinking.

Gregory had to cover his mouth to keep from giggling at her. It sounded like himself doing an impression of her as a joke. "No 'darlings'!" He corrected in a hurry. "Try to sound like a man Olivia."

She blew him off with a roll of her eyes. "At least I'm not the one who's giggling like a schoolgirl."

A fresh blush rushed into his face as Caitlin came in. She missed the rumpling of the bed and the way her mother's hair was a little messier than a typical morning.

Olivia rested her chin on her hand thoughtfully, trying to look serious did make her look more normal for her new body. "Good morning."

Gregory managed to send her a small nod of appreciation. Her attempt to sound more american really did help the illusion. Caitlin turned to him and he tried to concentrate on every memory he had of Olivia's accent. He could do this. If there was anyone in the world he knew best, it was her. "What do you need-" Olivia mouthed 'darling' behind Caitlin's head and he tried to remember to extend the 'a'. "-darling?"

Caitlin seemed to be buying it so far. "I just wanted to know if you needed me to do anything before the party tonight."

Gregory was immediately suspicious. What were she and that jewel thief planning now? His schedule was always recorded neatly in his datebook on the desk in the study. Caitlin knew that. He opened his mouth and shut it again in a hurry as Olivia interrupted to save him. 'Mother' couldn't interrogate Caitlin about her odd behavior. She was the good cop.

"Actually I just have a few errands to run before taking your mother on a trip up the shore. I was very busy with Elaine's trial and I don't want her to start feeling neglected. Rose likes us out of the house when she gets things ready anyway." She rested a hand patronizingly on his shoulder and Gregory's frustration that she hadn't picked up on Caitlin's suspicious behavior vanished in his appreciation of her impression of him. He almost believed it.

"Oh that's so sweet of you daddy." Caitlin hugged Olivia and she had to remind herself to hug back like a man. "Isn't that sweet of him mom?"

Gregory blinked before he realized he had to respond to 'mom'. "Yes-" He stood up and pulled on his robe. "It is very sweet of him."

Olivia buried a smirk. "I'm going to run down and call the office. Keep your mother company for me, won't you Caitlin?"

"Sure daddy." Caitlin offered with a bright smile that seemed rather forced. "Mom and I can go get some breakfast."

Gregory followed Caitlin downstairs as he tried to think of a way to find out what she was doing without making her suspicious. The last thing she wanted to do was have to explain that he wasn't who he appeared to be. Caitlin's banter consisted mostly of a shopping trip Cole had taken her on. Apparently this was the 'girl talk' Olivia mentioned sharing with Caitlin lately.

Gregory really had no taste for it. Between Caitlin's incessant babble about her new skirt she intended to wear to the party and how wonderful Cole was, the nausea he'd been struggling with since he woke up in Olivia's body was really starting to become a problem. Maybe it was a side affect of switching bodies but he had to scrap that theory because Olivia felt fine in his body. He didn't like the idea that he was going to have to suffer through Olivia's bout of the flu any more than he liked hearing about Cole's adventures with the clerk in the dress shop.

"Are you sure you're all right mom? I know you didn't want me to talk to daddy about you fainting-"

Gregory choked on his coffee. Olivia had fainted again and she didn't want him to know? He still felt nauseous, and he had been ready to write it off as the flu, but fainting wasn't usually a symptom of the ordinary flu. He thought the time she'd fainted at the police station was just stress. Olivia had always been delicate but this was more than that. He'd have to take her body down to the doctor as soon as possible because she couldn't be trusted to take care of herself.

Caitlin was looking at him with even more concern. "Mom?"

"Sorry." Gregory apologized in his best British accent. "My mind's been wandering lately." He added under his breath that it was wandering in his study in HIS body, but Caitlin didn't hear him. "I hope you weren't too upset when I asked you to lie to your father."

She obviously was. "You know I hate lying to him mom. He'd be so angry with me if I knew something was wrong and didn't tell him. Especially if something happened to you." Caitlin touched his hand, smiling and looking innocently worried. "I think you should talk to daddy about it. You've been so close and you'll only get closer if you're honest with him."

She withdrew her hand to take a bite of her toast. "And he loves you so much-"

Gregory smiled, at least Caitlin seemed to understand how important her parent's newly rekindled relationship was. Maybe there was a way to use that to his advantage. He could learn to use Olivia's body to his advantage. Especially if he was going to be stuck in it for awhile. After all, Caitlin was more open with her mother. "I think we're really starting to walk in each other's shoes so to speak. Having you back is wonderful. For both of us."

"I am sorry you worried about me so much when I was gone." She did seem apologetic and he was inclined to go easier on her until she continued.

"But Mom, you have to believe Cole will never hurt me."

Gregory was immediately nauseous. He reached for his forehead, as if he could stop the spinning of the room by holding on to the bridge of his nose. "How can you-" He began, but she interrupted with that deeply frustrating star-struck tone she only used for rambling about the wonders of Cole Deschanel.

"He's perfect and I love him. I want to marry him and have his babies."

Gregory pushed Caitlin's hand away as he hurried out of his chair. "I'm going to be sick." He clasped his hand over his mouth and nodded in answer to his own question as he ran towards the bathroom. He dropped to his knees on the fluffy blue rug. How did Olivia put up with this? She hadn't said a word to hiim about being ill yesterday, but here her body was, spilling the barely digested breakfast into the toilet. The orange juice stung. He wiped his hand across his mouth and pulled the little silver lever to vanish the mess into the plumbing. He hadn't thrown up since he was a little boy. He'd forgotten how decidedly unpleasant it was to have his stomach work against him.

Washing out his mouth, he tried to take control of her body. Force it to bend to his will. Without Caitlin spouting the many virtues of Cole he felt slightly better, but the lingering upset in his stomach made him reluctant to stray far from the bathroom. He rinsed out his mouth for the second time with water. Maybe he should just seek professional assistance. Certainly one of the doctors down at that damn clinic could give him a definite diagnosis on the flu. If that was indeed the problem.

* * *

"Bette!" Olivia saw her standing just inside the front doorway and waved her over to the study.

"I'm just here to see Livie." Bette bustled as she tucked her car keys into her purse. "But good morning to you Greggie. What legals wonders do you plan to pull off today?"

"Come here." Olivia begged gently. She could tell Bette the truth. She could get her advice. Bette might even believe her.

Bette looked at her in quiet confusion and Olivia realized Gregory never asked for anything.

She paused and then pointed at the floor inside the study. "Come here now Bette."

Bette jumped but obeyed without any further complaint. Olivia couldn't help giggling, an act that only drew a strange look from her friend. A look that got stranger as she shut the door. Bette retreated to the chair, settling down as Olivia circled to the desk. "I want you to listen to me. You're not going to believe me, but i need you to listen to me. Okay?"

"All right!" Bette agreed quickly, putting her hands up in a mockery of fragile defense.

"I'm not Gregory." Olivia began simply, dropping any attempt to hide her accent as she leaned against the desk. "I look like him. I may even sound like him, but I'm not."

The nervous laughter was a good response, as far as responses to that type of admission go. Bette settled more comfortably in her chair, as if she was waiting for a punchline to a joke. "Who are you?"

"It's me." Olivia offered shyly, trying to think of a way to prove her own existence in this strange reality. "Olivia."

Grinning in explosive glee, Bette's laughter rushed up from her chest. "I like that. You're Livie. It's a good one." She reached up to hit Olivia in the chest, thumping her through the robe she'd pulled on over her pajamas.

"I am." Olivia dropped to Bette's level, looking straight into her eyes. Hoping that Bette would see what Gregory did, what was unique to her even when she lived in a different form all together. "We switched. I'm him and he's in me. I know it sounds crazy-"

Bette stood up, pushing her aside as she paced towards the window. "Crazy?" She paced back, trying to find the right words. She failed and just repeated herself. "Crazy is my sixth husband's obsession with ankle bracelets. Crazy is a lot of things, but it's not this-"

"It's real Bette and I need you to believe me." Olivia insisted as she turned her friend back to her. "I'm me. I'm still me. Even if I look like him."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Bette tilted her head thoughtfully. "Okay, I'll play mind games with you if it'll, make you happy. You can be Olivia today if you want, God only knows what kind of kinky bedroom game you're playing but you have to prove it."

"Prove it?" Olivia repeated with a half smile. "What do you want me to do? Tell you something only Olivia would know?"

"Oh no, if this ends up being some kind of new-age marriage counseling thing and you finagle something out of me Olivia doesn't want you to know she'll never forgive me!" Bette looked him over, trying to find a hint of his insanity in his appearance. "Although, you have never answered the door in your pajamas before so I don't know what I think about that. Or if I even want to get into it at all."

Olivia raised an eyebrow and sighed, worn out by Bette's thinking. "What can I do to prove it to you?"

"I haven't the faintest idea." She touched Olivia's chin, turning it one way and then the next as she tried to figure out what was different in the face she knew as Gregory's. "There is something different about you. I'm not ready to jump on the crazy bandwagon, but you're certainly acting funny."

"Am I really?" Olivia wondered as she let Bette examine her face. "What's funny about me?"

Bette's face darkened in suspicion. "You're being too nice for starters. This is a joke isn't it? I admit you're not you and you catch me in something."

Crossing to behind the desk, Olivia flopped into Gregory's chair and put her feet over the arm. It was something he never, ever did, but she couldn't help enjoying it. There was a great deal of freedom in being Gregory. Caitlin, Bette, Rose, Sean- they all looked at her differently. Bette had come right into the study when she'd told her too. "So I should be meaner to you?"

"No, not at all." Frowning in thought, Bette snuck around the back of the desk with Olivia and put her hands on her shoulders. "Kiss me."

Now it was Olivia's turn to laugh. "What would that prove?"

Bette slapped her cheek lightly with the back of her hand. "Come now, no matter which half of the Richardses you happen to really be, you have to know that I've never forgotten a kiss in my life. I kissed Gregory last year at your, whoever you are, Christmas party and if you're him. I'll know."

"So you won't believe me, but you'll believe your sixth sense for kissing?" Olivia winked up at her, both intrigued and amused by the prospect.

"Shut up." Better order as she leaned down to the man she knew as her best friends husband. "I'd know an old shark like you anywhere."

Olivia found her second time kissing a woman as intriguing as the first. There was a softness in the way women allowed the kiss to happen to them without wasting time on the particulars. Breaking apart, she saw the shock and surprise in Bette's face and resolved to stop making fun of her powers of identification.

"My god Livie." Bette looked deeply into the brown eyes looking up at her and wondering if that spark could really be what she thought it was. "I don't know how you did it, but it's amazing. You look like him, you even kind of sound like him. of course the accent's all wrong-"

Olivia blew her off with a wave and a smile of relief. "I was hoping you'd be able to help us. Gregory and I don't have a clue how we got into this, nor do we have any idea how to get out of it."

Bette perched on the desk as she pinched Olivia's shoulder. Responding to her squeak of pain with a shrug, "Had to make sure you weren't dreaming, didn't I?" She gave Olivia her full attention. "So what should I do?"

"I'm going to get rid of Cole, once at for all." Olivia announced as she swung her feet down to the floor and rested her hands on the desk. "I've been thinking about it all morning. I'm Gregory, at least, everyone else thinks I am."

"And you're going to do what?" Bette asked with a curious lilt in her voice. "Gregory hasn't been able to get rid of Cole, no matter how hard he tries."

Wagging a finger thoughtfully Olivia pulled her closer. "But he doesn't know what I know. He doesn't know about my affair with Cole-"

"And you do." Bette finished as she started to figure out what Olivia planned to do. "And because of some insane twist of fate, you look like your satanic hubby, so you can pretend to know all about the torrid little affair that Cole had with your body, that the aforementioned hubby is now in without Gregory knowing anything about it." Clapping her hands together quickly, Bette expressed her delight. "That's not bad Livie, not bad at all."

Olivia sighed, closing her eyes for a moment as she thought about what losing her boyfriend would do to Caitlin. "I just can't risk Cole talking to Gregory while he thinks Gregory's me. What if he lets something slip?"

"Doesn't matter who's body you're in then, Gregory will still tear it apart." Grimly finishing Olivia's thought, Bette took her shoulders in hand, offeringher support. "But this is going to work. It's perfect, this little soul-switching mishap is going to work out beautifully."

Nodding as she started towards the door of the study, Olivia paused, "Not so perfect for Gregory I'm afraid."

"Oh?"

"My body's not treating him very well. Gregory said he was sick to my stomach earlier. I suppose I- he just has the flu..." Olivia didn't get to finish her thought. The door to the study opened inward just as she reached for the knob.

"Daddy?" Caitlin was barely in the door when she grabbed her father's hand. "I think you should go check on mom."

Olivia titled her head curiously and Bette had to knock the rather feminine placement of her hand off of her hip to preserve the illusion of manhood. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's throwing up in the bathroom." The note of quiet disgust mixed with the pity in Caitlin's voice made Bette smile sympathetically.

"Poor thing."

Olivia pushed them both aside with a hand on Bette's shoulder. "I'll go check on her."

"Good idea." Bette called after Olivia as she lead Caitlin out of the study and settled on the sofa. She wasn't going to miss the opportunity to see Gregory deal with Olivia's body. Not for all of her wedding rings.

Olivia found her husband huddled in a corner of the bathroom, arms crossed around his knees.

"Being you is hell." He complained simply as she slid down the wall to sit next to him.

Olivia touched his forehead, remembering how wretched she'd felt at the trial the previous day. "I'm sorry darling." He didn't have a fever, poking a rather large hole in her theory that it was just the flu. She didn't mention that fact to him. It really wouldn't do to have him worry about her body when he was the one in it. He'd probably just make it worse.

"I was all right," Gregory began as he realized resting his head on her shoulder kept the little bathroom from spinning. "Until she started going on about Cole being the only man for her, and Cole being the perfect boyfriend-" He clapped a hand over his mouth quickly and Olivia pulled the hair back from his face. Gregory shook it off. "Then I just lost it."

She kissed his cheek, realizing he was serious when he teased her about how cool her skin was. "I bet you'll be happy to get your nice, safe, reliable body back. Won't you?"

Gregory closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall behind his head. "Remind me to be nicer to you when I do."

"You're always sweet to me." Olivia argued as she rubbed his arm thoughtfully. "Why do you think I always get better when you come home?"

Laughing was one of a few things that still came naturally to both of them. "I need to come home sooner. This-" He lowered his eyes to his stomach. "Isn't worth suffering. no matter what nonsense I think I need to get done at the office."

"You'll feel better in the shower." She reasoned hopefully. "Besides, you're just spoiled." Olivia realized as she helped him to his feet. "Your body's nearly invulnerable. When was the last time you threw up anyway? Undergrad?"

"Grammar school." Stopping in the safety between her arms and the wall, Gregory caught her staring at him with a look he wasn't sure he recognized. It certainly wasn't one he saw in the mirror. "What?"

The look burst into a smile, a fairly sheepish one that Olivia tried to hide with a shake of her head. She even bit her lip as he continued to wait for her explanation. They were on their way upstairs when she finally sighed and gave in.

"I think I like you." Olivia admitted shyly as she lead him to the master bath and dug around in the linen closet for a towel.

"We've been married for twenty years-" He patronized as she pulled his robe from his shoulders. "I'd hope that it's more than 'like'."

She folded his robe and set it on the counter. "No no-" Olivia looked down at his chest, the thin ivory nightgown left little to the imagination. "I want you. I feel all tingly when I look at you."

Gregory stopped yanking on the complicated ties on the back of his nightgown and decided to pull it over his head. He stopped halfway as she made a neat line of toiletries on the counter to explain to him. "You're attracted to me?"

Olivia pushed his nightgown down and undid the ties with practiced ease. "I don't know why you sound so surprised."

"You do see "me" in the mirror every day." Gregory pointed out as he tried to decide what part of his body to cover with his hands as he snuck around her into the shower stall. He cupped his breasts and returned her shy smile.

"I'm seeing you through through new eyes." She closed the distance and kissed him, surpressing a giggle as the proximately of his naked body sent new sensations running down between her legs. "Hair." She ordered as she touched the first two bottles. "Face- body-" She continued down the line to her razor. "Legs, you have to get dressed up for that party you scheduled tonight. Be careful around your knees and your ankles."

She reached for the water and winked at him. "I'm going to use the other shower and head to the office to sign a couple things. Take good care of my body now."

Gregory reached for the first bottle she'd tapped for hair, but changed his mind and ran out of the shower to kiss her again. He wrapped wet arms around her neck and felt the water in his hair run snaking rivulets down his back. "I love you."

Olivia was severely tempted to forget Cole and try out the new side of lovemaking right then on the bedroom floor. Instead she tried to force her body to calm down. Cole first, fun later. It had to be that way. "I love you too darling."

She had the taste of him on her lips as she chased him back into the shower. "And be careful! Your ankles will bleed for hours if you cut them-"


	4. your place

Olivia sighed as she finished Gregory's signature. A half hour of practice before Carol gave her the paperwork had made it into a reasonable facsimile. Thankfully, no one had bothered her much. Gregory's office was his sanctuary. She made a show of reading over the papers before signing them, Gregory would, of course.

Carol stacked them up and nodded to her. "Have fun with Mrs. Richards up the shore today. It's really sweet of you to take her out. All the secretaries thank so."

She laughed slightly and have to remember to sound as masculine as possible. "I've been so busy lately. I didn't have enough time for her." She smiled and tried and crossed her arms the way Gregory had demonstrated. "I just have the one errand, and then I'll be unreachable all day. I'll be in Monday of course."

"Of course." Carol echoed with a knowing smile. "We'll see you then."

Olivia latched the briefcase and tucked everything away in the top drawer of Gregory's desk for Monday. She grinned and wondered if it would be Gregory by Monday. How much time would it take to teach her how to be a proper businessman? "Have a lovely weekend."

Carol winked. "When the boss is away..."

Was she flirting with her? Olivia wasn't really sure. She smiled and tried not to look embarrassed. Carol was rather attractive in a professional way. "Perhaps I should just send all of you home so you can't get into any trouble."

"Paid vacation?" She raised an eyebrow. "You must be planning to have a good time with Mrs. Richards."

"We just need a little time without the kids." Olivia held open the door for Carol as she prepared to lock up Gregory's office. "You know how it is."

--------------

"You just have to hold still, I'll be done in a couple minutes." Bette promised as she started on Gregory's makeup. "Unless you'd rather do it yourself."

Gregory shook his head quickly. "I have no idea how all of this-" He pointed along the line of products Bette had pulled from Olivia's drawer. "Works. Can't I just skip it?"

Bette handed him the moisturizer and looked him over thoughtfully. "You could, but you'll need sunglasses and a hat."

He sighed and turned back towards his reflection in the mirror. "But I look fine." He reached for the hairbrush and smoothed his hair straight down his shoulders. "Great even."

Bursting into giggles, Bette leaned back in her chair and sighed melodramatically. "You are such a man! Take a shower and brush your hair and you think you're ready to go."

Gregory pouted, something he never could have gotten away with before. "Fine. If you think I need make up and you're willing to do it for me..."

"That's a good girl." Bette patted his head and turned him towards her. "Close your eyes."

Gregory obeyed and leaned closer to Bette as she started the alien process of make up. "Why does she do this every day? I thought she- I- looked just fine as I was."

"Of course you would." Bette chastised him as she opened his eyes for eyeliner. "Look up. You're still looking at yourself like a man. Olivia looks beautiful to you because you're used to her. You love her, she's your wife." She grabbed his lips lightly and pursed hers into an 'O'. "Go like this."

Gregory cocked his head in surprise but obeyed as she stained his lips. "So I need to see her the same way I see myself."

"She is you at the moment." Bette added the finishing touches and sat back contentedly. "Don't you want to look sexy for her?"

Gregory turned in the chair and looked himself over in the mirror. "I don't think Olivia really cares-" He paused and smiled at his own reflection. "She did say she liked me."

Bette cracked up, covering her mouth as she struggled to put Olivia's make-up away without dropping any of it. "She does?"

He whirled around and retreated towards the closet. "She does." The defensive tone in his voice drew up Bette's eyebrows as she turned to help him with clothes.

"Do you want her?"

Gregory stopped paging through Olivia's clothes and turned back to Bette. She thought she could see the gears turning in his mind but he favored her with an honest answer. "I'm not sure."

Bette patted his shoulder, forgetting that the gesture would probably do little to calm him. "It's all right. Let's find something to wear."

"I look nice in black." He offered playfully and Bette nodded in agreement.

"I'll find you something easy." She pulled out a matching bra and panties, socks, black pants and a dark green blouse. "Bet you never put one of these before." She reached for his robe and Gregory pulled back. "What is it?"

"You don't have to help me get dressed." Gregory held the belt tight. "I think I can do it."

"Greggie, sweetheart," Bette reached around his hands to undo the belt on his silken robe. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before."

He sighed and relaxed his arms with a sheepish sigh. "Everything wasn't mine when you saw it."

"I don't think Olivia will mind." Bette held up the bra. "Now, I chose one without wires so you wouldn't have that to deal with on your first day. We'll save that shock for later. Now turn around-"

----------------------------

Olivia leaned back against the wall of the grotto and waited. Cole should know better than to keep Gregory waiting. She glanced down at the heavy silver watch on her wrist and tapped her fingers on the rock behind her.

"I'm here." Cole began with great frustration. Olivia took pleasure in that, imagining how different his tone would be in a moment. "What do you want?"

"You out of Sunset Beach." Olivia responded simply. "Alone, immediately and never to return."

Cole raised his eyebrows and advanced on her. "No. Now, I'm afraid that's out of the question."

"How did I know you were going to say that?" Olivia tucked her hands in her pockets and left the wall. Cole closed the distance between them and Olivia felt her heart quicken. Not in attraction, as it had been that lonely night through her drunken haze. This was jealousy, the thrill of competition and lust for blood.

"Maybe we're more alike then you'd care to admit." Cole offered with the same cold arrogance.

Shaking her head as she studied the youth in his face, Olivia returned his frigid smile. "We certainly have a great deal in common."

"Are you going to get to a point-"

"My wife, for example." The thought dropped from her lips and shattered in Cole's ears. "But you thought I'd never find out, didn't you, my dear boy?" She circled him as he stiffened in the center of the grotto. "Olivia wouldn't dare tell her jealous husband that she'd strayed with her daughter's boyfriend. The same charming young man who stole my precious Caitlin's virginity?" She leaned in close to Cole's ear, "And I am so, very jealous."

Cole straightened, readying to stand his ground. "What do you-"

"Do you know what it's like to know someone else has touched the women you love? To taste someone else on her lips?" Opening her lips in a menacing smile, she shook her head again. "You wouldn't, would you? You've never given a damn for any woman, save my daughter, and Caitlin only has eyes for you, doesn't she?" She touched Cole's shoulder and ehld on as he tried to jerk away. "At least, until now."

Drawing on her astonishing strength of adrenaline, she whirled him around, startling him as much as herself. "How's she going to feel when she knows you used those pretty lips to caress her mother's neck?" She dropped her voice to a growl, wickedly enjoying the growing white in his eyes. "Do you think she'll forgive you when her mother sobs out her guilty confession? Do you think your dear Caitlin will be able to love you when she knows you seduced her mother?"

Cole lashed out, striking her hard across the jaw.

Olivia blinked and wiped blood from her mouth. She'd never been hit before, but her body reacted for her. Her right hand balled into a fist but she shook it off. It wouldn't do to show up at home covered in bruises and bloody cuts. "Get out of town, now, and you'll never have to see Caitlin's face when Olivia explains how she was the other woman my daughter's been so concerned about."


	5. our second first

"I shouldn't be nervous." Gregory chastised himself as Olivia reached around him to help with the key to their rental cabin.

"It's fun, isn't it? I was terribly nervous my first time." She confessed as she shut the door and flicked the latch shut. "But your body's broken in a little. You've have two children. It's not going to hurt."

Gregory turned to her with a concerned expression. "It hurt?"

Olivia laughed and smoothed his hair back over his forehead. "A little, but you never hurt me. So you don't have a thing to worry about." She wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him close enough to kiss him. Kissing was becoming second nature. She'd learned how to use her tongue to entice him quicker than he had learned to respond to her.

Gregory shivered in delight and horror as she ran her hands down across his breasts. He wasn't sure how to make love as a woman, and unlike Olivia, the prospect of trying out his new body was a little frightening.

Olivia just grinned as she moved to pull the curtain shut over the view of the ocean. "This is going to be fun."

Gregory undid the first button of his blouse, smiling in gentle amusement. "I'm glad you're so intrigued."

She dropped her suit jacket on the chair and started on her tie. "Haven't you always wondered what it's like to be me when you make love to me? How it feels when you kiss me? Why I sometimes scream or cry and just need you to hold me? "

Gregory reached up to help her with her tie, nodding as he dropped it on the chair with her jacket. "Maybe I'm not ready to feel that way."

"Darling-"

He started to laugh and touched her lips with a hushing finger. "No darlings. You make me sound so-"

"There's no one here!" Olivia argued as she raced her fingers down the buttons of the lavender blouse she'd picked out for him that morning when they finally got dressed. "I can finally stop trying to worry about sounding like I grew up in the states, or not looking 'prissy' when I stand up."

She started to rip it open, but stopped when Gregory held it shut with his hands. Sympathetically, she stopped immediately and put her hands at her sides. "I love you."

"I know." He replied as he carefully undid the buttons of her broadcloth shirt. "I'm just not sure I'm ready to make love to myself."

She kissed his forehead, deeply amused by the change in their heights that allowed her to do so easily. "I suppose it is a little strange."

"A little?" Gregory thew his hands up into the air and turned towards the window. "I had a long conversation with our daughter about clothing. You let Bette kiss you. She did something to my hair with a curling iron. You made me shave my legs." He sank to the bed, resting his head in his hands and looking up at her like a lost puppy. "I threw up."

"I am very, very sorry about that." Olivia offered gently as she rubbed his shoulders with strong hands. "I feel terrible that you got trapped in my body when I have the flu." She found the knots of tension Gregory always complained about her having and started to work through them with her fingers. "It could be worse." She added after she settled on the beautiful quilted bed next to him. "You could have PMS."

He made a wry face. "Bette mentioned that too. How awful is it?"

"Awful." Olivia responded immediately. "But it's not that time so you'll be all right. I know you're stuck with the flu, but I always feel better when I'm with you."

"What is it that I do?" Gregory lowered his head to her shoulder, wondering if she was right as his stomach started to calm down just from her proximity.

"You make me feel safe." She shrugged off her shirt, feeling the hint of the sea breeze threw the open window as it teased the curtain. "There's an amazing comfort in that alone. Add in that you love me and nothing can hurt me."

Gregory lay back on the soft bed and felt himself sink in slightly as he studied the wooden rafters of the ceiling. "Even the flu?"

Olivia lay down next to him, running a playful hand over the naked skin of his stomach. "Even that."

"Don't stop." Gregory whispered with a pout as her hand came to a halt just before his breasts.

She propped herself up on one elbow and smiled down at him. "If you say so." Olivia teased as she reached up towards the soft pink satin of his bra. "Anything I need to know about your equipment?"

His laughter echoed up towards the rafters of the cabin. "Don't let yourself get carried away. I'll be severely disappointed if you can't match my endurance."

Olivia won a gasp of surprise from him as she took his breast roughly in her hand. "I don't think I'm the one who has to worry."

Gregory bit his lip, suddenly wondering what he had got himself into. "Be gentle."

She followed her fingers with her tongue, teasing the skin beneath the edge of the demi bra. "Of course." She grinned up at him as she slid the blouse from his shoulders. She worked her way up to his lips and reminded him how pleasant it was to be kissed by someone who knew his better than her own. She reached for his pants, showing him how to work the complicated hook and button that held the black tight over her hips.

She bounced up from the bed, pulling back the covers as she stripped off her own pants and dropped them on the floor. Gregory started to sneak beneath the sheets, but he stopped and moved to the edge of the bed next to her. He reached around his back, feeling the clasp of the bra and trying to teach his fingers how to undo it from the new angle they were presented with. Olivia reached to help him, but he pushed her off politely.

"I want to do it."

Her boxer shorts landed on the heap of her pants and she winked at him. "Men's undergarments are so much more practical."

If he'd been in his own body, he would have felt a little exposed, standing there as she was. Olivia didn't seem to mind, it wasn't her body that was nude. She put her hands on his shoulders, helping to slide the straps of his bra from them as he finally won over the little clasp in the back.

Gregory smiled in victory as his breasts felt the kiss of the cool air on his skin. "Got it."

She nodded proudly, sharing his amusement as she crawled into the covers with him. One finger teased him through the matching pink satin of his panties, Gregory's eyes widened and he moaned into her throat as she kissed him again. "My god."

"I know-" Olivia replied with sweet patience as she gently slipped the damp satin over his wanting hips. Her grin was pure amusement as she teased the soft flesh of his thighs before moving her hands back up to his face. "I think it's a gift."

He tilted his hips, feeling the heat grow tight and painful as it had that morning before Caitlin interrupted. "What is?" Her thigh moved between his legs, giving him something to rub against. He screwed his eyes shut and tried to fight the sensation away, panting was becoming a practical idea.

"This, us- it's amazing." Her finger teased his lips, running along the softness of his bottom lip as she brought that wet finger to tease one quickly hardening nipple. "I never thought I'd be able to feel what you feel."

She was hot against his thigh and then his stomach as she ground against him. Gregory started to reply, but speak was lost as her tongue and forefinger landed at the same moment. Her tongue teased the other nipple to a point as her forefinger ran over and down his clit, sending a wave of feeling crashing somewhere behind his eyes.

She was hard and insistent against his inner thighs, and her finger tested the way for her entrance. Something was missing. Something he needed terribly, desperately, and he had no idea what it was. Olivia wanted to conquer him, to dive within and bury herself again and again until she was gasping and spent. But she had to take her time. She kissed him, finding their connection in the interplay of tongues and the soft lining of their mouths. She explored with one finger, listening for the note of pain in his breath that signaled she was moving too quickly. She knew how she felt. She'd touched herself, flicked an devilish finger across her clit and felt the heat build inside. She knew how to make him feel like the world would end if she didn't take him in right then and there.

His hand wrapped around her, guiding the extension of herself she'd never had to direct before inside instead of her finger. She caught his face, turning their eyes together as they joined as one. Something electric, something beyond the imprisoning flesh of their bodies lanced between them. She was surrounded, heaven was hot, wet and tilting up to meet her hips as she bent her knees to thrust deeper.

Gregory felt her move and fought for his breath. She was foreign, the invaded force that wanted to restructure his entire being around the feeling of being whole. His legs tightened and then shook as he wrapped them around her back. Her hand ran over his left side as she dug her elbow into the bed for balance. Their bodies tried to move without their permission, instinct suggesting the motions most necessary to their survival. He was thinking too much, losing his head in the struggle of mind and body. This body, Olivia's body, knew how to get what it wanted from his body as it moved over and within.

He just had to stop thinking. Let go into the pleasure and pain of it and let his body lead him. It was too much more than he'd ever felt, Too overpowering. He stopped fighting and his breath fell into ragged gasping. Death was certain, His head was too free, his heart racing too quickly. His first day as a woman was his last and there was nothing he could do about it.

He was wrong. For one of the precious few moments of his life, Gregory Richards was entirely wrong. He collapsed within, arching his body up to cling to hers as she let go. Her fingers released the sheets she'd balled into fists, her breath exploded in exaltation as climax took her doubts and smashed them away. She was strength and she'd held on long enough for her body to sing with the perfect joy of completion. Gregory's eyes screamed that her victory was everything she had intended.

His head was no longer attached to his body. It wasn't even attached to her body. His soul was lost in the rush and the sobbing that followed. He wasn't crying. He never cried, but his chest was heaving and his face was wet from more than sweat. He was lost.

And then he wasn't. Slowly he felt the warmth of a body pressed tight against his. The salt of sweat on his lips was sweet as it beaded on the damp brown hairs of the chest holding him safe from the whirling, terrifying universe. Arms held his shoulders, something hard, a chin, rested on his head. He was small, weak and vulnerable but for the first time in his life he was entirely content with that. He pulled himself out of her arms, wanting to look at her, to tell her she was right, he'd been a fool to doubt her and a hundred, thousand other thoughts of love that buzzed like angry wasps in his head.

Gregory waited for his heart to stop pounding in his chest. Olivia was quiet, catching her breath faster than he did.

When his finally quieted, he rested his cheek against her chest and sighed. "You were right."

Her smile was wise and warm. Olivia reached for his tears and licked them from the tips of her fingers without losing the look that answered all of the questions he couldn't find the breath to ask. "You were wonderful." She said and the pressure of her lips against his confirmed it.

"Is it always like that?" Gregory wondered as he pulled himself away. His hair tickled his bare shoulders as he turned to look at her. "For you, when you're not me, I mean."

She laughed and stretched her arms back over her head as she let the sheet slide down her chest. "You're probably better at your- my- part, darling." Winking impishly, she leaned in like an proud young man. "It was my first time after all."

He narrowed his eyebrows and pulled the sheet up over his chest, which was cooling in the open air. Propping herself up on her elbow, she caught a curl of his hair and smiled at it softly. "Bette's going to be sad that I ruined your curls."

He hit her shoulder, giggling as he pulled his hair out of her reach. "I'm not letting her near me again with anything hot. She tried to burn my hair off."

"My hair." She corrected with a patronizing smile. "I'd like to think I'll get it back eventually."

He rolled over to play with the short, dark brown hair that had been his until that morning. "I'm pretty fond of my hair too. Although-" He gave in to the impulse to kiss her, forcing the oddness of it out of his mind. "It looks pretty good on you."

"Does it now?" She pulled a piece of it from her forehead and studied it before pushing it back up her forehead. "I have to admit that I like how easy it is. All I did was shower and shave." She traced a hand over her face and wrinkled her nose in amusement. "I didn't even cut myself."

Gregory stood up, and balanced his right leg up on the bed. "I got you though." He pointed to a fresh cut on the back of his knee. "Bled all over the place."

Olivia kissed his knee sympathetically and pulled him unceremoniously back into bed. "I warned you!" She caught his waist and made him squeal as she tickled her way up his sides to his arms.

He fought for a moment before losing himself in her eyes when she stopped. "I love you." He whispered seriously as part of the gravity of the situation sunk in. He could be stuck in her body for the rest of his life and as strange as it was, she was in it with him. "No matter what happens, at least we're together."

She cupped his chin, struck by his honesty. "Gregory-"

Gregory felt her kiss, the insistence of her lips against his own made him smile in spite of the resurgent nausea. He sat up quickly, wishing it had stayed away longer. "I don't mind being in your body, but I'm ready to give this flu back..." He dropped his head into his hands, trying to ignore the churning of his stomach.

She sat up behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders to steady him. "Come back here." Wrapping her arms around him, Olivia sat up behind him. "Take it from someone who knows what you're going through. You lie down and think about something else and it goes away."

"Think about what?" He complained as she pulled him back.

"I got rid of Cole today." Olivia offered as she stroked his forehead. "If anything, that should make you feel better."

"You got rid of Cole?" He echoed with disbelief as he let his eyes closed. "That's a lovely fantasy Olivia-"

She cut him off briskly. "It's true! I frightened the hell out of him and he's gone." Smoothing Gregory's hair thoughtfully, she readied her cover story. "For good I think."

Gregory ran several arguments through his head before it hit him that she was entirely serious. "You scared him, didn't you?"

"I thought of something you hadn't and I tried it." She brushed a hand across his face, chasing the accusatory look out of his eyes. "Don't be angry, I wasn't sure if it would work or I would have told you."

Screwing his eyes shut and swallowing a wave of nausea, Gregory waited for her to explain.

"I told Cole I'd set him up. I'd make sure Caitlin walked in on him and another woman. "

His eyes snapped open in surprise and Olivia laughed slightly as he turned in the bed to look at her. "How? Who?" He shook his head quickly. "Never mind. Just tell me-"

"You. I told Cole if he didn't leave Sunset Beach, today, Caitlin would walk in on him and you."

Olivia's quick reflexes kept him in bed as he tried to sit up in surprise. "Me?"

"I know it sounds far-fetched-"

"Far-fetched!" Gregory slipped from her grasp and pulled the sheet around him as he left the bed. "It's lunacy-"

Olivia caught the sheet and ripped it from his body as she smiled at him wickedly. "Bette did help me with the idea."

"That explains a hell of a lot!" Gregory crossed his arms petulantly over his chest and turned to her with the first hint of acceptance. "But it worked?"

"It worked. Cole believed me." She caught his arm and pulled him back to the bed. Gregory's resistance melted as she locked her hands behind his neck. "It's amazing how commanding you can be. If the right person's in your body."

Gregory let her hands wander down his bare back and direct him back to the bed. "I'll have to take your word for it." He kissed her forehead, then the bridge of her nose. As Olivia started to roll them both back to the bed, he stopped for a moment. "Wait, wait-"

Stopping immediately, Olivia titled her head to the side and tried to keep her annoyance out of her face. "What?"

He chased her annoyance away with a lingering kiss that promised to be a hell of a lot more fun than talking about Cole. . "I want to be on top this time."


	6. your strength

"Just because you're in my body doesn't mean you're not the one who lost her driver's license." Gregory complained as he buckled his seat belt.

"According to the state of California." She dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and license. "I'm Gregory Richards. This is my car." She turned the key and the Jaguar purred to life. "And I could get used to this."

"You'd better not." He argued as he crossed his arms and pretended to pout. "I'm not sure I'm ready to trade lives just because you happen to look like me."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek before putting the car into gear and pulling out of the driveway of the rental cabin. "I'm sorry being me is so disappointing."

Gregory looked out his window at the trees as they started to speed up. "It's not that Olivia, and you know it. I don't have anything against being you-"

"It's just that I don't have nearly as much fun as you do." Olivia finished for him as she took the curving corner a little faster than she needed too. "I don't think I really appreciated this car before."

He tightened his fingers on the arm rest and winced as the clutch engaged a half second later than he would have pressed it. "You're not really appreciating it now. This was custom built in England. I picked out the engine block myself and you're driving it like a delivery truck..."

The wheels hugged the road as it flew around another winding corner. Gregory swallowed and barely kept himself from taking her hand from the shift. "That sign back there said twenty miles per hour."

"Oh?" Olivia raised an eyebrow and slowed down a touch.

He glanced over her shoulder and put his hand quickly over his mouth. "You shouldn't really be in fourth."

Obediently she downshifted, but the next curve still came too quickly for his stomach. "Liv you might have to pull over."

"Oh darling." Patting his hand comfortingly as she pulled to the side of the road, Olivia tilted her head and smiled sympathetically. "You're still nauseated, aren't you?"

He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "No offense my dear, but you feel like hell."

Stroking his hair back over his forehead, she put her hand over his and noticed how cold his hands were. "Next time you're me I'll try my best to feel better."

He laughed, loosing the masculine tone and slipping into a giggle. "That would be very thoughtful of you darling." Opening his eyes slowly, he dropped his hand down to hers and sighed. "I'm all right." He forced himself to smile at her. "Really, I'm all right. And we have that party to get back too."

Starting the car again she felt him sigh and drop his head to her shoulder. It took her a moment to reorder her arm to fit around his shoulder and still reach the shift. After a few minutes her arm was stiff and Olivia realized for the first time that it was a little uncomfortable to drive a car with a head resting on her shoulder. But she could smell the soft lavender of his shampoo and she felt like she was protecting him. Keeping him safe. She liked it, every part of it. The warm feeling in her stomach was new. It was like having a child again. Someone smaller who needed to be held and protected.

She kissed his sleeping forehead as she pulled into the garage. "Darling- we're home."

-------------------------

It looked so intimidating as she laid it out on the bed. Hose, garters and belt, different underwear, a bra without straps and the dress had two parts. She sat on the corner of the bed as Gregory pulled the right suit from his closet and sat it down next to the outfit she'd picked out.

"I have to put all of that on?"

Olivia grinned and started stripping off her shirt. "You'll be all right. I'll be right here to help you." Following her lead, Gregory, reached up to undo his blouse. He dropped the blouse into the laundry and removed his bra. He reached for his robe out of habit and started to pull it on. His arm stopped before he ran out of sleeve and he was able to pull it well across his chest. He glanced down at it and then over to the mirror.

Olivia stole it from his shoulders as he realized his error. Trading him for her ivory patterned silk, she wrapped her arms around his bare chest and stared at their reflection in the mirror.

"If I was going through this with anyone else.-" Gregory began darkly as he put on the proper robe. "I'd be ready to do anything to get my body back."

"But?" She wondered as she pulled on the creased black suit pants.

"I'm really rather stunning. Aren't I?" His serious expression and the vain tilt of his head made her shake her head in disapproval.

"You're definitely too beautiful for someone like me." She quipped as she buttoned her pants and reached for her shirt.

"I'm sorry." Softly reticent, Gregory offered "It's just-" Dropping his voice to a whisper, his cheeks flamed up in embarrassment. "I'm not sure if I think I'm the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, or if I should be worrying about how my stomach's going to look in that dress."

Olivia caught his shoulders and pulled him in. She'd been dying to see what it felt like to take him in her arms and kiss the daylights out of him. He sighed, sinking into the kiss and her arms. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." She whispered as he wrapped his arms around her neck when they came up for air. "At least, with these eyes."

"You really think so?" Gregory wondered as he studied the face that so recently had been his. "Even though I'm-"

"You think I'm gorgeous." Olivia explained playfully. "I can't help but agree."

Their bedroom door burst open before he could do more than interject a kiss between them.

"I thought you had a truce!"

Gregory whispered "Caitlin" as he turned away to tie up his robe.

Olivia bit back her annoyance and smiled at her daughter. "What can I do for you sweetheart?"

"You can tell me why Cole's not here." Caitlin folded her arms stubbornly and refused to leave the doorway.

Olivia waited for her to come in for a moment, then she shook her head innocently. "I made sure he knew he was invited."

"But you did something. You must have! And after you promised me to leave him alone!" Caitlin advanced on Olivia, drawing up her hand like she meant to slap her.

Olivia blinked and shook her head again. She hated doing this to her daughter. Guilt was cold and uncomfortable in her stomach but she had done the right thing for everyone. Losing Cole might hurt Caitlin now, but knowing the truth would hurt her for years to come and rip her family to shreds. Cole being gone was best for everyone. "Cate, sweetheart, Cole and I talked this morning. I told him- that your mother and I own a condo on the shore and you both were welcome to have it."

Caitlin's stormy expression took on a touch of abandonment. "You really said that daddy?"

Olivia swallowed her guilt. "I did. We want you to be happy darling, that's all we want. When you left it nearly killed your f- mother and I. We didn't know where you were, or when you were coming back-"

"Bullsht." Eyes blazing, Caitlin snapped furiously. "You had me followed every minute daddy. You just can't get over the fact that I'm not your little girl anymore."

"Now Caitlin-"

Starting her, Gregory's hand suddenly caught her arm from behind. Olivia turned around as he brought both of his hands to his head. The room was starting to go black as a rush of heat slammed into his head from beneath. He stumbled and felt Olivia catch his arm. Then the blackness abruptly won out.

He came to slowly, feeling as if he were a leaf tossed in the wind who just couldn't remember how to get home. A man's face stared down at him with gentle concern and he felt the hand on his face that tried to shake him away. He started to ask Olivia what happened, but as soon as his lips moved the man started talking. "Oh darling, thank god you're all right."

Olivia lowered her head to his ear and firmly whispered. "Call me Gregory, remember?"

In his confusion it seemed like a good idea. Though it felt nearly as odd as his body to say his own name. "Gregory?"

"It's all right." Olivia repeated as she moved the dark shadows of his hair from his eyes.

Another voice, Caitlin asked from behind Olivia, "Is she okay?"

His head was still swimming somewhere far off from his body. He wasn't she. Was he? Olivia's hand found his searching fingers and anchored him to his body. "It's my fault really Cate. I was so excited to take your mother on our trip, I just didn't think about how tired she's been lately. I'm afraid this flu hit her pretty hard."

"She fainted yesterday." Caitlin piped up helpfully as she returned from the bathroom with some water. "She made me promise-"

Olivia waved off Caitlin's confession. "I know." She pulled Gregory up from the floor with great care as she helped him lean against the bed. "I know darling." She cupped his chin and assisted him as they held the glass together. "Why don't you give us a moment?" She suggested easily as she smiled to assuage Caitlin's fears. "I'll make sure she's feeling better before we try standing up again."

Uncertain, Caitlin looked over her parent's faces. "Are you sure you're okay mom?"

Gregory blinked at Olivia in confusion when she nudged him subtly. Then it hit him. He was mom. "I'm fine." His voice was a hundred times weaker than he intended and he had to swallow some of the water before it started to improve. "Really Caitlin. Your father's going to take good care of me."

Olivia snuggled up next to him and pulled him in close. He felt Olivia nod to Caitlin and shoo her out of the room with a hand. "it's all right, you go get dressed. Call Elaine and see if she's seen Cole. Go on."

Gregory sighed heavily and dropped his head onto Olivia's shoulder. "What the hell is going on with me?"

Kissing him seemed like poor consolation, but the one she planted on his head at least made him smile. "I'm sorry darling. I'd give anything to switch us back so you didn't have to go through this."

"I've never been nice enough to you when you're sick." Gregory pointed out with quiet disgust as he tried to hold his head still. "Never. I had no idea-"

"Shhh." She let him fall over to rest his head in her lap. "If I'm still feeling ill-"

"Awful." Gregory corrected as he closed his eyes against the light in the room.

"Awful when we switch back." Compassion was rich in her voice. "I'm sure you'll be exactly what I need. As always."

"You really think so?"

Her hand was warm as it rested on his forehead. "Oh darling. I know so."


	7. outnumbered

"Casey and Alex are already here!" Sean called nervously from the doorway into the master bedroom. "Are you guys coming?"

"Your-" Gregory paused and released his white-knuckled grip on the bathroom sink "Father should be downstairs already. He said he wanted to talk to the caterers." He swallowed and prayed Sean would stay where he was.

"Oh, okay."

Sighing in relief he dropped his head again and tried to find whatever strength it was that Olivia used to drag herself around when she felt this way. He shook his head and rinsed his mouth out again. He wouldn't ask Olivia to go to this party if she was sick. He would have cancelled it.

Reality intruded into his musings. Olivia would have hidden her condition. He would have insisted that she was fine and the party would have gone on.

"Mom?" Sean's voice was soft behind him and Gregory turned around quickly.

"Sean-" He paused, twitching his fingers nervously. Olivia was kind to Sean. He had to remember. "Sweetheart you startled me."

"Just wanted to tell you Alex and Casey were here." Sean studied him for a moment. Letting more emotion into his face than Gregory really ever saw. "You okay?"

Nodding quickly made his head spin, but Gregory kept up his smile. "I'm fine darling." Was the 'a' right? Sean still looked concerned. "Where's Tiffany?" He pretended to just now notice his jewelry box was open and turned quickly to close it. "Will she be joining us at the party?"

Sean gave him a funny look. "Yeah. You knew that from this morning mom."

"I did?" Gregory didn't mean it to be a question. Sean was still staring at him. God, what did Olivia do in these situations? "I'm sorry darling. I must have forgotten." Reaching for Sean's arm seemed to calm him a bit. Gregory wondered if he'd ever get used to being on the other side of an arm. "Let's go get her."

Tiffany would distract Sean. Tiffany would prattle on about whatever it was a homeless little waif like her thought about and Gregory would be off the hook. Why did Olivia get to go play host and talk to the caterers? He would have done that just as well as she could.

"Are you still sick? Caitlin said-" Sean began with the same concerned look Olivia teased him about getting.

Gregory stopped suddenly. Sean looked just like him with his head tilted like that. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but there was something so familiar in his bearing. he had to force himself to keep walking, to smile that comforting smile that he'd never realized took so much effort before. Olivia should be here with him.

"Oh Sean you look amazing!" Tiffany flew out of her room and into Sean's arms just as Gregory had hoped.

But much to his chagrin, she didn't stop at a hug. She wrapped her grasping arms around his son's neck and thrust her tongue into his mouth.

Completely appalled, Gregory backed away from them and took a deep breath to inform them that their behavior was not what he expected from in his house. He drew himself up to his full height and paused. He was just up to Sean's shoulder. Even with the damn heels that already were making his feet sore.

It wasn't the same to look up at his son and then dress him down for behaving like the hallway was his own personal love nest. Being Olivia didn't have the same presence as he did. They'd never behave like this in front of him. For now he was trapped. He turned to leave, catching the railing of the stairs when that dammed flighty feeling settled into his stomach.

What was it about Olivia's body where the slightest motion was a problem? He had to stop on the landing and wait for the black edges to disappear from his vision before he made it down to the dining room. Gregory had to smile at the party. Rose had done a beautiful job. The caterers even had a fountain of champagne for the toast Olivia was going to have to make to that reporter Vanessa Hart. Olivia was an excellent public speaker when the occasion called for it.

Alex ran up to him as he finished the last step. "Olivia, you look simply fabulous. you just have to always show up us poor colonials don't you?"

Gregory had to forcibly remind himself to use the accent. Did Olivia play with Alex the same way he did? "You look serviceable." He remarked dryly as Alex kissed his cheek. "I half expected to see you in a leather jacket and fedora."

"Even Indiana Jones gets dressed up occasionally. Usually to sneak into Nazi parties." Alex winked, calming him down a little with her good cheer. "The fuhrer seems to be working the crowd to his satisfaction."

Olivia was weaving through the crowd, just as he would. Alex said something else that he missed and then she caught his arm. "Are you sure you're all right? Gregory seemed a little concerned about you."

"I fainted earlier." He admitted with the same look as a guilty child. "He thinks I have the flu."

Alex petted his shoulder with a motherly smile. "And he's still having his party. I'll have to give him a talking too, won't I?"

Gregory smiled suddenly amused that Alex would take his side against himself. "I'd appreciate that."

"Esquire works too much anyway." Alex lead him over to the food and helped herself to a glass of champagne. "If I was married to someone like you I would have retired by now."

"So that's why your marriage didn't work. You needed a wife not a husband?" He teased with a raised eyebrow, forgetting to use his English accent as he fell into the easy banter he was so used to with her.

Alex gave him an odd look as she took a sip of champagne. "Sometimes you and Gregory sound so alike, it's hard to tell you apart."

"We have been married over twnety years." Gregory looked quickly away. Olivia was caught in conversation with Vanessa and Michael and not around to save him. "I'm sure you're just exaggerating."

"I probably am." Alex shrugged and sighed off the idea. "Come on, let me take you out to get some air. Gregory was right, you look a bit peaked." She took his arm, not giving him the time to get out of the conversation. She settled them on the bench on the corner of the patio.

"Spending too much time over at the radio station?" She offered a bite of the chocolate cheesecake on her plate with her fork. Just like she used to during late night study sessions towards the end of college. When Gregory couldn't tear his hands off his books, Alex always made sure he ate. He took the bite out of habit, forgetting that Olivia knew nothing about their little ritual.

Before he realized what he had done Alex was grinning at him like the Chesire Cat. "Piss off any witch doctors lately Esquire?"

Gregory swallowed. Licking his lips slowly as he tried to think, he realized he didn't have another choice. "How'd you know?"

"Olivia-" Alex paused and laughed wickedly. "It is Olivia in your body isn't it?" When Gregory nodded she continued, "She didn't know anything about our bet. When I asked her to pay up she covered fairly well, but-"

"You knew better."

"I did." Grinning around a vicotrious bite of cheesecake, Alex stared into his face. "There's some of you in the eyes."

"That's what Bette said."

"When you're not paying attention your voice is all you." She set her plate aside and cupped his face. thoughtfully. "Being a woman doesn't seem to agree with you. You look tired."

"Don't you know it's not polite to mention people's shortcomings?" His best impression of Olivia won him a shake of her head.

"You sounded just like her then." She finished the last of her champagne and glanced back towards the house. "She does a killer impression of you. I think I'm the only one who knew the difference."

"And if I hadn't lost to you in liar's poker-"

"I wouldn't have been the wiser. Don't suppose you would have bothered to tell me-"

Gregory sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I don't think we intended to tell anyone. We're both hoping it's some kind of dream we'll just wake up from."

"Sounds like a poor kind of plan." Alex teased with a note of seriousness. "You're just going to keep going to bed and hope you wake up yourself again someday?"

"I don't know what else to do." Gregory hined as his head spun for a moment. He ended up holding his head up with his hands. "It's been such a handful just not to be commited for thinking i'm someone everyone else in the world swears I'm not."

"And you've been sick. Haven't you?" Her fine eyebrows knit thoughtfully. "Olivia is rather concerned about you."

"Maybe she just wants to make sure she gets her body back in top notch condition." He was only half teasing. The state of his stomach made it hard to be amused. "Tell me all women aren't nauseated all the time. This is just a hell of a flu bug. Right?"

"I can think of a time when Olivia was nauseated all the time." Alex's meaning slipped past him as Bette snuck up on them.

"So can I." She added brightly. Gregory found she was enjoying this just a little more than she should be. "I didn't want to scare you or I would have mentioned it earlier-"

Alex and Bette shared a look that made Gregory instantly nervous. Until today, he would have sworn nothing made him that agitated anymore. Bette and Alex knew something he didn't. He hated feeling helpless, but it was suddenly all around him. Everyone knew more about being a woman.

"Out with it Bette." Gregory pulled himself up to his full height, trying to ignore how much his heels were starting to make his feet ache. "Now."

To her credit, Bette was unintimidated. In fact, all he earned was a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry Greggy, it's just not as scary when Olivia does it."

"The voice?" Alex wondered aloud to Bette as she shared the smile. "It's not the same Esquire. I'm sorry. Olivia's too-"

"Don't say it-" Gregory warned viciously and this time they believed him.

"I was going to say pretty." Bette offered as she sat down in a huff. "Honestly I was."

"I'm pretty?" Gregory asked with a raised eyebrow, too confused to keep up his anger.

"Gorgeous." Alex ventured cheerfully as she took a second flute of champagne from the wandering waiter.

"If I felt like going up against you dear-" Bette patted his shoulder and took a glass of champagne as well. "I'd have made a run at Olivia long ago."

Gregory reached for the champagne out of habit. "Oh really?"

Alex and Bette slapped his hand away in unison. "No you don't" Bette ordered sternly.

Alex was more gentle. "I'm sorry. We can't let you have any of that."

Gregory let the waiter leave before he turned on his friends. "I'm not the alcoholic. I don't see why I shouldn't."

Bette whispered something to Alex and she nodded immediately. "We just can't let you." Alex repeated as Bette left the bench to disappear inside.

Still confused, Gregory started to stand up. "All right. Olivia doesn't have a problem with cigars, I can get one of those from the humidor-"

"No cigars either Esquire." Alex sat him back down, taking his hand in support as Bette returned with a cup of coffee.

"You probably shouldn't have this either, but I thought you could use it." Bette wrapped his hands around it and sat down on the other side of him.

Gregory ignored his coffee. He looked from Alex to Bette and decided to appeal to Alex. She was at least attempting to hide her amusement. Bette was barely holding back her laughter.

Alex sighed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, especially considering it's your first day as a woman-"

"Tell me what dammit?"

"We-" Alex and Bette shared another look.

This time Bette couldn't take the suspense. "We talked about this, and we agree. Olivia was feeling sick awhile before you switched bodies."

"And you told me about the time she fainted at the Police Station." Alex piped up in support.

"If I didn't know better-" Bette added with a preemptive wince.

"We think you're pregnant." Alex finished finally.

Gregory started to laugh even as his coffee cup started to drop from shocked fingers. "You can't be serious- I can't possibly be-"

Bette caught the coffee cup and Alex put a hand on his other shoulder as she stood up to support him.

"This isn't some kind of joke?" He wondered numbly as Alex prevented his feeble attempt to stand up.

"We'll take you to the doctor tomorrow."

Bette forced the coffee back into his hands. "Drink this. And think for us Greggy. Have you been using protection?"

"Protection from-" Gregory swallowed the coffee and wished desperately he could drink something stronger. Anything stronger. "Oh god."

"Hey-" Alex rubbed his shoulders, trying to settle him a little. "It's not so bad. You're married and you love your husband very much."

"My husband?" Gregory let Bette take the empty coffee cup from him and tried to force his mind to work coherently. For one of the few times in his life, it failed him. "What's Olivia going to think? I mean we haven't talked about this at all."

"She loves you." Bette reassured him as a smirk broke through her sympathy. "It's going to be okay Greggy."

"After all, you're not the first woman to have a baby." Alex pointed out cheerfully as she and Bette descended into giggles.


	8. light of my life

The party erupted into applause as Olivia lowered her glass and took a sip of champagne to finish her toast. Gregory smiled at her sheepishly from the back of the crowd as he came in from the patio with Bette and Alex. They were herding him up to her, giggling as they went. What secrets were they whispering about? Alex winked at her as the party broke up into little groups.

Olivia took Gregory's arm and steered him aside. In the corner by the study she backed him into the wall. Olivia dropped her hands to his waist. "You look amazing darling."

"It's your body." Gregory shrugged but the blush that spread over his face gave away how pleased he was that she thought so.

Olivia kissed her way down his temple. Running a hand up to just beneath his breast. "How much longer before we can politely retire for the evening?"

Gregory tried not to laugh. Usually he was the one who wanted to kick their guests out and move on to something more interesting. His watch read ten-thirty. Midnight would be polite. Perhaps a tad earlier if that if the guest of honor wanted to retire back to her lover. She did look rather involved in kissing that young lifeguard, Michael Bourne, Vanessa was seeing.

"An hour and a half..." He sighed dramatically as Olivia's fingers insisted against his lower back that it was far too long.

"Maybe you'd dance with me?" Olivia kissed his forehead, trying not to find it strange that the smell filling her nose was her own perfume.

"I'm not supposed to like dancing." Gregory teased as he found the little button holding her jacket shut over her chest. Sneakily undoing it, he made Olivia chuckle as he pulled her all the closer. "But, maybe you'd consider it for your darling wife."

"She is rather beautiful tonight isn't she?" Olivia flirted back as she toyed with the curls Bette had coaxed out of Gregory's hair. "The most beautiful woman here." Lifting his hand to her mouth, she imitated the look that melted her knees when he used it.

It had a similar effect. Gregory shivered and smiled shyly at her. "I believe that wholeheartedly when I say it. When you say it I feel like I'm going to blush my way out of your skin."

"I'd settle for out of this dress..." Olivia purred as her thumb slipped beneath the glistening strap of his cream-color dress. "I'm fairly fond of the skin you're in at the moment." She brushed his ear with his lips as she whispered to him, "Although I feel differently about it when I'm on the outside. If I found myself this attractive when I was, myself-" She nibbled her way across to the corner of his mouth. "I'd probably never get out of bed."

He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. His hands were all the way into her jacket when Caitlin stormed over and ripped Olivia away.

Olivia regained her composure in record time as she straightened her jacket and titled her head in mock confusion towards Caitlin. "Something the matter sweetheart?"

"You got rid of Cole!" Hissing like an angry cobra, Caitlin's lovely blue eyes flashed viciously. "God Dad, how could you!"

Gregory moved to intervene, to keep Olivia from giving them away, but Alex caught his arm. "She can handle it Esquire." He was the only one who could hear her when she pulled him back to the clear center of the room. "Just come dance with me for awhile."

"Let me help her." Gregory complained as Alex pulled him away from the tempest that was beginning between Olivia and their daughter.

"No honey-" Alex admonished quickly as she pulled him farther into the living room. "You get in there and you'll give everything away. Just how to you intend to explain yourself when Caitlin thinks both of you are entirely insane?"

Gregory bit his lip, still straining to hear what Caitlin was saying to Olivia. "Caitlin might understand."

Shaking her head sadly, Alex eyed her son on the other side of the room. "I don't know if even Casey would understand if I was suddenly someone else. Caitlin's already upset, the last thing you want is to destroy her world." She patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Come on, dance with me."

Gregory raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit of a break from tradition, isn't it?"

"Olivia loves to dance." Alex emphasized with an evil grin. "I might be convinced to let you lead..."

Gregory held out his hands without much enthusiasm. Alex insinuated herself into his embrace and smiled. "Nothing too complicated, we can start with waltz. You do remember how to waltz?"

Rolling his eyes made Alex start to laugh. Gregory relaxed ever so slightly. "I think I just might remember."

"Good!" Alex responded brightly as she followed his slow lead. She let the first time he stumbled go by without notice, but the sharp pain in her foot when he fumbled again made her stop.

"You do an excellent impression of a donkey." She teased dryly as she dropped her hands and waited for an explaination.

"It's these damn shoes." Gregory complained under his breath as he pointed down at his heels in disgust. "I can't move in them at all. It's like I'm being tortured."

Alex glanced down at his feet and nodded as she took in the delicate straps and high arch of the shoes he was trapped in. Shrugging easily, she pointed to her own feet and winked. "That's why I cheat. Flats and pants are the way to go."

"Olivia picked them out." Gregory was careful to keep his voice below the conversations around them.

"Olivia's a beautiful, sophisticated woman." Alex explained as she continued to smile comfortably. "Sophisticated women, unfortunately, wear torture instruments to parties."

"I'd be beautiful without the damn things." Gregory put his hands on her shoulders. "Maybe you should lead. Just until I get the hang of being 'sophisticated'."

Alex wound her fingers around his hand and started to lead slowly, half the tempo of the music in the background. "She's just compensating. You are, rather, you used to be, rather tall."

"So-" He baited, concentrating on following her movements was more difficult than he thought it would be.

"It's harder to kiss someone who towers over you." She watched as his eyes wandered over the heated discussion between Olivia and Caitlin. When he sighed softly and returned his attention to her, Alex knew the look in his eyes.

"Pretty damn handsome, isn't she?"

Gregory laughed, nearly falling out of rhythm as he tried to wrap his head around the idea. "I never thought I'd look at myself quite the way I want to at the moment."

"You're a lucky woman, that's for sure." Alex winked at him playfully. He raised his eyebrows, trying not to think about how odd it was. Gregory suddenly wondered when it had gotten so hot in the living room. He lost his step for a moment and Alex brought them quickly to a stop. "Tripping over your shoes again?"

He blinked, hoping that would bring the living room back into focus. When he failed, Gregory shook his head slowly and his hands fell into Alex's waiting grasp. "We'll get you some air, okay sweetheart?" She led him out to the patio, keeping her hands strongly on his as she pulled him though the crowd. "Keep your eyes on me okay? You're going to be fine."

Gregory sank down against the wall of the house and propped his head up in his hands. "What is this?"

Alex knelt down next to him, stroking his head. "I'm sure it'll pass."

"What if it doesn't?" Gregory clutched at her hands, grateful for her presence. "What if something's wrong with her- me- I couldn't handle that."

"Shhh..." Alex sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "You're pregnant. That's not a wrong."

"But it's hell."

"Pregnancy is hell for Olivia. Esquire, you should be the first to know that." Alex turned to flag down one of the tuxedoed waiters for a glass of water. "Who knows? Maybe third time's the charm. You'll finally know what it's like to be knocked up."

Gregory swallowed, pushing the glass of water away as Alex tried to calm him down. "I can't drink that."

Insisting it would help, Alex held it up towards him. "It might help your head."

Gregory's eyes were screwed shut. Even the soft light on the patio wasn't helping his head. "I'm a bit more concerned about my stomach."

Alex covered her mouth quickly to keep her laughter in check.

"I'm sorry I ever made love." Gregory vowed bitterly as he dropped his head to his knees. "Ever. I'll take it all back. I should have been celibate."

She gave up on pretending not to be deeply amused. Her eyes glinted in the moonlight. "You didn't seem to mind it when you were a man."

"Stomach wasn't dancing around in my throat when I was a man." He groaned and bit his knuckle against the slowly spinning lights in the bushes of the patio. "I could dance when I was a man. Dammit, Alex, I could stand up."

"I hate you." Caitlin began without preamble. "I'm never going to forgive you. I hate you. I'll hate you forever!"

Olivia grabbed her hands and held her fast at the bottom of the stairs. "You're drunk." It was obvious in Caitlin's face. In the blush in her cheeks, the sleepy response of her eyes and the way she swayed slightly in Olivia's grasp. "Caitlin you should go to bed."

"I'm not going to bed." She ripped her hands free and planted them defiantly on her hips "At least not anymore. You've ruined that for me. Congratulations daddy you've taken away the only man I've made love to."

Olivia gulped, suddenly grateful Gregory wasn't in his own body. Pushing Caitlin up the stairs to keep her from making a scene, she realize her daughter reeked of champagne. Caitlin wasn't aware enough to fight going upstairs, but she continued her tirade.

"Did it bother you daddy? Knowing someone loved me?" Caitlin stumbled back towards her wrapping her arms around her neck, "Knowing someone was kissing me- touching me- making me scream his name."

Olivia felt her body tighten in disgust. "Don't be crude."

"Why not?" Caitlin laughed as she tumbled away from her. "At least someone in this house was happy for once." She held onto the wall, staring at the floor as she started to laugh uncontrollably. "Maybe- maybe- " Taking a deep breath, she clung to the door of her room. "You're just jealous, because I was getting something you aren't getting from mom. Maybe you just can't get it up anymore."

Olivia didn't mean to push her. She didn't realize how strong Gregory was until Caitlin was sitting on the bed, nearly in tears. "Don't talk about your mother that way." She wasn't even sure who she was protecting, Gregory or Gregory in her body.

"Why not?" Caitlin flopped down to the bed giggling towards the ceiling. "Because you'd rather not be reminded that thanks to you, she's a whore and a drunk." She rolled up, kicking at Olivia as she removed her shoes. "Maybe that's it. No one's allowed to be in love in this family."

Sitting up suddenly fueled by her epiphany, Caitlin grabbed her father's neck and whispered. "She used to tell me she loved you. I never used to believe her, she was always cheating on you and lying to you. I-" She narrowed her eyes. "I hated her."

Olivia set Caitlin's shoes aside and fetched a glass of water to leave on her nightstand. "And now?"

"Now I just hate you." Desperate loneliness was icy in her voice. "Mom supported Cole."

Olivia stopped and folded her arms across her chest, guilt rising up to chase away her anger. "You're not going to understand this-" She took Caitlin's hands and held them tightly. "In fact, I hope you never, ever do- but Cole was wrong for you."

Caitlin tried to slap her but Olivia held her hands fast. "He didn't love you the way you loved him. And he would have been unfaithful to you."

"No!" Caitlin's resolve started to crumble into hysterical tears. "No, he loved me."

"But he wanted things he couldn't get from you. He might have settled down with you, played house for awhile-" Olivia sighed and forced her guilt to the back of her heart. "But in the end he would have left you. Just like AJ left your mother. It's just better that he left you now. Before you had a family to worry about it because once you have that, nothing else matters." She touched her daughter's shoulder gently as Caitlin turned away from her to sob into her pillow.

"Someday, you'll know what it's like to do anything to keep your family together."

Olivia shut the door and sighed heavily as she leaned against it. "I'm sorry Caitlin." She whispered to the empty hallway. The music from the party downstairs echoed up in a quiet mockery of the guilt she had to hold inside. "I couldn't let Cole destroy our family. You'll fall in love again. You're young and beautiful and you're whole life is ahead of you."

"Your father is all I have and I have to hold on to him." Olivia straightened her suit and prepared to head back down into the party. "I need him."

Sean searched the room for his parents after Casey asked him where they were. He caught his father dragging Caitlin upstairs. His sister was worse than he'd ever seen her. As soon as the champagne was opened, she'd started to drink it as if it was going out of style. It reminded him of mom during the bad years. Mom when dad used to drag her upstairs and lock her in the bathroom.

He headed out to the patio, wondering if his mother had ended up out there again. Sean turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Alex and his mother were curled up together against the far wall. Alex's arms were around his mother's shoulders and Olivia's head was on her chest. It was weird.

He couldn't find another word for it. If Alex had been his dad instead it would have made sense, but there was his mother, clinging to her as if she wouldn't know what to do if she let go.

Sean retreated. He couldn't say anything. They hadn't seen him. He nearly crashed into Bette on his way back to the party. His mom and Alex? Alex was dad's best friend. That was all she was. Wasn't she?

Bette knelt down on the stone patio next to Gregory and Alex and tapped his shoulder with a slim plastic object from her purse. "I brought you a present."

As Gregory took it and stared at it in helpless confusion, Bette produced the directions from her purse. "It's a bit complicated, but you're a lawyer, you'll understand all the jargon."

Alex turned the pregnancy test over in Gregory's hands and pointed out the window at the top. "if this turns blue, we'll take you to the doctor tomorrow. That's really all you need to know."

"What are you three conspiring about?" Olivia's voice was cheerful from the doorway. Only Gregory picked up the strained note. The way she was forcing herself to smile. He wanted to ask her what was wrong but he had to hide the pregnancy test in the sleeve of his jacket. He couldn't let her know. Not yet.

"We were just talking." Alex winked at Olivia. "You know, girl talk."

Giving Alex her best quizzical look, Olivia slipped past her to Gregory. "You really look lovely darling."

"I hate your shoes." Gregory offered as he stared down at his feet. "I really hate them."

"But they look beautiful." She teased cheerfully as she kissed his lips this time. She held on a little longer, whispering in his ear, "And I love you for putting up with them."

"You'd better make it up to me." Gregory complained as he concentrated on keeping his balance as Olivia released him. He would have had to grab at her to stay upright, but Alex stepped in quickly.

Bette pounced on Olivia. "Can you dance?"

Olivia's eyes widened in surprise. "With you?"

"Gregory hasn't danced with me since my last wedding." Bette pouted as she dragged Olivia back towards the house. "And I'm dying to see if you can lead."

"I don't usually-" Olivia realized with a sheepish grin. "Gregory always-."

"I know!" Bette chortled playfully as she wrapped her arm around Olivia's waist. "That's why it's going to be so much fun."

Bette peered over her shoulder and winked at Alex. For her part, Alex steadied Gregory between her and the wall of the mansion. "I think we could sneak you upstairs, so you can take the test in peace."

Swallowing nervously, Gregory looked around to make sure Olivia was out of earshot. "What if I am-" He couldn't say the word.

"Pregnant." Alex interjected gently as she patted his shoulder again. "It's okay."

"What am I going to do? Olivia's going to-" Stopping suddenly, Gregory dropped his hand thoughtfully to his stomach. "I don't know what she's going to say."

"She's going to feel awful." Alex led him slowly around the periphery of the crowd. Olivia was leading Bette through the waltz admirably. It seemed she was far better and switching sides of the dance than Gregory had been. "Can you imagine how guilty she'll feel when she realizes what you're going through?"

"It's not her fault." Stopping them again, Gregory shook his head for a second as they contemplated the staircase. "She didn't do anything."

"That's the problem." Alex quipped, but smiled gently when Gregory didn't get the joke. "Olivia's the one who forgot."

"Forgot...?" Gregory trailed off before hitting Alex's shoulder. "I didn't know you were interested in the details of my sex life."

"You're my best friend." Alex began as she started him slowly up the stairs. "I'm interested in everything about you."

Gregory couldn't help smiling. He'd never really appreciated what it was to be taken care of before. He never needed someone to hold his hand as he walked up the stairs.

He kept up his conversation through the bathroom door with Alex as he tried not to think about what the pregnancy test meant to him and Olivia. Somehow talking to her made the whole thing a little less surreal. "I think it was the sofa. We had a big fight, I thought she was the one who shot Del. We were ready to kill each other and then..."

"Then you started tearing her clothes off." Alex looked down at her watch. "The wonders of love. Amazing that you can still be that spontaneous after all the time you've been together."

"Spontaneity is overrated if it leads to this." Gregory complained as he joined Alex in starting down at her watch.

"Five minutes," She offered as she pulled him down on the love seat in front of the bed. "That's not so long..."

"It's eternity." Gregory argued as he stared down at the way she took his hand. "I never really appreciated things like this." He lifted their hands and shook his head slowly. "I never realized how comforting it is to have someone hold my hand. Or hold me when I'm sleeping."

"You're on the other side now, aren't you?" Looking deep into his eyes, Alex tried to find the man she knew. Gregory was there, somewhere behind the mascara in his eyelashes. "I think you're doing very well."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Olivia's the one doing very well. She went to the office for me, talked to the kids and dealt with Cole. I can't believe how wonderful she is."

Cooing softly, Alex started to laugh when he blushed. "Just what your marriage needed, a little change of scenery."

Staring down at his chest, Gregory looked at the swell of his breasts under his dress and sighed. "Or a big change." With his free hand, he touched his chest experimentally, still completely unnerved by what he found there. "I have to admit I rather like it."

"Oh?" Alex wondered with that teasing lilt in her voice he loved so much.

"There's something fun about breasts. Something different..." He winked at her lewdly. "Making love with them is special."

Alex collapsed into a fit of giggles. "I'll bet it is."

"Sean, would you be so good to fetch your mother and Alex from upstairs? They've been up there awhile and i'd like to know what they're up too." Twirling her champagne glass she realized all the fun of being able to indulge in Gregory's body had been sucked out of the night. Caitlin had seen to that. Her drunken despair reminded her too much of herself when she thought Gregory was lost to her forever.

It didn't matter that her position was stronger now, even though in Gregory's body she had everything, control of his money, the respect of the community, all of it didn't matter. She just wanted to see him smile at her and tell her it was all right. That Caitlin really was better off without Cole.

Sean paused outside his parent's bedroom door. He was about to knock when something made him stop and listen.

"-A little change of scenery." Alex joked with his mother.

"Of a big change." Olivia replied playfully. "I have to admit I rather like it."

"Oh?" What was that in Alex's voice? Was she flirting?

"There's something fun about breasts. Something different..." Olivia was flirting back. His mother was flirting with Alex? He didn't believe it. "Making love with them is special."

Then they both started to laugh. Sean couldn't believe it. He'd known his parent's marriage was in trouble, when wasn't it? But now his mother was turning to Alex? Dad's best friend?

He couldn't bring himself to knock. He just stood there in front of the door until it got quiet in the bedroom. Were they kissing? He didn't think he could handle opening the door and finding that. His mother and Del was one thing. Alex was...

Sean forced himself to knock. He coughed to warn them. His mother sounded happy. Who was he to ruin that?

"Mom? Alex? Are you in there? Dad's looking for you."

Gregory dropped the pregnancy test in shock. "Sean!" He mouthed to Alex as he dropped to his knees to pick it up from the carpet.

Alex made sure he had it before she opened the door. "Hello sport. Sorry it took so long. Your mom and I just got caught up talking about old times."

Both of them looked guilty. Desperately guilty and his mother was definitely trying to hide something with her smile. "I'll come down with you darling." Gregory turned to Alex and pressed the test into her hand before Sean could see it. "Wouldn't want your father to worry."

Alex stuffed the pregnancy test in her pocket and followed them down with a smile. Poor Gregory was so flustered by everything. She hadn't seen him this nervous since before he asked Olivia to marry him. Her watch said it would be another two minutes. She caught his eye and gave him a quick thumbs up, then a thumbs down. He'd know as soon as she did, she promised with her eyes.

Gregory's nausea must have turned to butterflies by now, but he was putting on a brave front for his son. It was nice to see them getting along even as terror flashed through his eyes at the thought of being pregnant. Gregory and Sean hadn't gotten along since Sean came into the world, but as Olivia, he could be kind. He could be honest even.

"There you are." Olivia took Gregory from Sean's arm and kissed his cheek possessively. "I've been looking for you darling."

"Oh I'm sorry." Gregory slipped into her arm and whispered. "I wasn't feeling well."

"Oh darling." Olivia squeezed him sympathetically. "I'm sorry we couldn't cancel the party." She took her glass of champagne and tapped it with a silver fork from the catering table. "I apologize for demanding your attention once again, but I just couldn't assemble a crowd in my home without taking advantage of it."

The crowd laughed gently. The Richards parties were the best on the beach. Alex checked her watch. Less than a minute now. Gregory met her eyes with the kind of look she saw in frightened animals in Africa. She smiled and turned her attention to Olivia's toast. She was playing Gregory to the hilt.

"I've already asked you to raise your glass to the lovely and talented Miss Hart, to whom this party is dedicated. Now I have a more personal request." Olivia smiled graciously and took Gregory's hand.

"This party would have been impossible without the tireless support of my lovely wife." Olivia looked into his eyes and watched him melt under her gaze. "We've had our problems over the years, but when I look at you now Olivia, I can't help thinking that now we're finally starting to see through each other's eyes."

Gregory put his hand over his mouth and the blush ran rampant up his face. Were there tears in his eyes as he let Olivia kiss his cheek.

"To the light of my life. I can only hope all of you can find someone to light your way as brilliantly." Gregory grabbed her arm, either for support or affection Alex couldn't tell. He fell easily into Olivia's arms as the toast went around the room. Their kiss had a decidedly theatrical air, but it fit with the atmosphere of the party.

Bette sighed as if she were watching the end of a romantic film. Alex raised her glass and caught her watch on the way down. Drawing Bette's attention with a quick gesture of her hand, they looked at the test together as Alex pulled it from her pocket.

Gregory was wrapped in Olivia's arm, smiling graciously as he received the congratulations of the room. He was basking in it, and the color in his face was starting to improve as Olivia held him.

Bette tapped the test and grinned wickedly. "I knew it. How's he going to break the news to Livie?" She wondered as she refilled her champagne from the fountain on the table. "She's going to be a wreck. Remember how upset she was when gave him that case of the chicken pox?"

Alex nearly choked on her champagne. "How was she supposed to know he hadn't had it yet?"

Bette clinked their glasses together. "I don't know. But it was a hoot wasn't it? All those little red spots..."

"Oh the poor dears..." Shaking her head, Alex watched as Olivia kissed him again. "This is nine months, that was a week."

"Do you think they'll be able to switch back?" Bette wondered as she started examining the tray of desserts.

"I have no idea. I don't even know how they switched in the first place." Alex caught Gregory's eye across the room and gave him the thumbs up she'd agreed upon. All the new colored drained from his face.

"Oh dear." Alex turned Bette from the desserts as Gregory swayed by Olivia's side. "He's not taking it well."

"Do you think-?" Bette's wondering was cut short as Gregory fainted dead away. She clucked her tongue and set down her glass as the party turned into a flutter of activity around Gregory. "We should have bet on it."

Alex set hers down next to Bette's and followed her over. "Even I wouldn't have taken those kinds of odds."


	9. reality

It was entirely disconcerting to have everyone staring at him. He blinked up at Olivia, trying not to smile as he realized how odd that look of concern was on his face. He didn't want to make her worry, he just wanted to be alone. He needed time to think. Time he wasn't going to get at a crowded party.

How could he be pregnant? He let Olivia and Alex help him up to sit on the sofa as he tuned out the voices around him. He understood the how, he supposed with an odd smile. Why was a good question. Why now was a better one.

"I'm fine." He finally snapped at Olivia as she asked him the hundredth time if he was all right. This was all her fault. She should have been more careful, it was her responsibility after all- Gregory pushed her hand away and let Sean and Alex help him upstairs instead. "I'm fine." He snapped again, ignoring the hurt look on her face. How could she do this to them? How could she be so irresponsible?

Sean gave him a reproachful look, but he wasn't going to say anything. Sean would probably agree that it was 'Gregory's' fault. Gregory never got Sean on his side. He was still smiling at the strangeness of it when Alex asked for a moment alone.

"She'll be all right Sean." Alex touched his shoulder, smiling gently. "I promise, I care about your mother as least as much as your dad does. Okay?"

Sean looked back and forth between them strangely. He started to retreat out of the room, but stopped and knelt in front of Gregory. "I want you to know that I'll love you. no matter what."

Gregory felt his heart twist in his chest. He stared down at his son and then at Alex over Sean's shoulder. She motioned with her hands. Gregory hugged Sean, pulling him tightly in to his chest. "I-" He stopped, voice cracking slightly. He could do it. He could say it. Sean wouldn't think it was weird coming from his mother. "I love you too."

How long had it been since he said that as himself? Gregory wasn't sure he could remember. He was immediately grateful when Sean left the room. His eyes felt funny, and he had the sudden urge to keep anyone from seeing him. "Alex-"

She shook her head at him slowly. "Oh honey. It's okay." She reached out and pulled him close just as he'd clung to Sean. Gregory let his head fall to her shoulder. "Alex-"

"I'm-"

She rocked him, humming a little, like she used to when Casey was a baby. "I'll take you to a doctor tomorrow. We'll get it all sorted out."

He pulled away and dropped his head into his head. "I'm-"

"Relax sweetheart. Just relax." Alex kept humming. Gregory couldn't place the song, but she was smiling when he finally looked up. She was always smiling. "Just think. You'll be the first man who understands what his wife went through when she was pregnant. The first man to know what it's like to have a baby."

"She's all right." Bette assured her as she waited for Olivia to finish showing her guests to the door. "Olivia's all right. She's just tired, you saw her. She's been sick all day."

Olivia congratulated Vanessa again and shook Michael's hand as they left for the limo. "I should never have let 'her' talk me into having this party. I should have made her rest."

Casey paused on his way to the door. "Do you think I should wait for my mom? If I leave I'm going to take her way home."

Olivia shrugged. "Alex can drive Olivia's home, she never uses it anymore. That way you don't have to wait around for your mother to stop fussing over my wife."

"That would be your job." Bette corrected as she took Casey's arm. "Muscles here can give me a lift home instead. Wouldn't do to have you driving home all by your lonesome, handsome young man like you..." Her wink made Olivia raise an eyebrow, but Casey took it in stride.

"I'd be honored. You're sure my mom will get home all right?" Casey wondered again.

Olivia bite back her annoyance, and instead adopted the arrogant air Gregory was so good at. "I can send her home as soon as I get up to my wife."

"Give Livie my best won't you?" Bette took a firmer grip on Casey's arm, running her fingers appreciatively over his biceps. "She has to get better so we can go shopping tomorrow. Your money won't spend itself you know."

She rolled her eyes but smiled at Bette. "Goodnight Bette."

"Goodnight Gregory darling." The last was a dig at Olivia that stung exactly the way Bette wanted it too.

Olivia enjoyed shutting the door on Bette's laughter. She shut her eyes for a moment and pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. Gregory was sick. Did he even know how to handle being ill? It certainly never happened to him. No wonder the poor man was so confused. He'd been dealt a difficult hand. Her bouts with the flu were vicious. His body wouldn't listen to him. No matter what he said, or how he tried to protest he was all right. He was confused, exhausted, disoriented, but he was doing his best. He was trying to be her.

She headed up the stairs, passing Sean on the landing. "Goodnight d- son." She corrected herself. Darling in Gregory's vocabulary was reserved for her alone.

"Goodnight." He looked at her with the dark eyes he'd gotten from his father. The ones that looked right through her. Something was bothering him. Something was wrong in his eyes. "Hey, dad?"

"Yes Sean?" Olivia put her hands in her pockets.

He looked down before looking up to her shyly. "Is mom all right?"

"It's just the flu Sean." She reached out towards him but he pulled back. Olivia tried not to let the hurt show in her face. "She'll be fine."

"What-" He stalled, scuffing his foot against the carpet. "Do you know about her and Alex?"

Olivia paused, trying to decide how to answer his question. She'd known Alex since she and Gregory started to date, but he'd known her longer. And he was her now. "They've been friends since college. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing." He shrugged softly, staring deeply into her eyes. "Just curious. Goodnight dad."

"Goodnight Sean." She watched him head downstairs towards the kitchen and tried not to let his odd behavior bother her too much. Of course Gregory was spending more time with Alex than she usually did. Alex was his best friend. Maybe that was what Sean was confused about. She could hear them talking through the door.

Alex was laughing and after a moment, Gregory was laughing too. She knocked lightly before opening the door. Gregory immediately looked guilty as he tucked the nightgown behind his back. "Darling!"

"You look better." Olivia deadpanned as she took in the mess in front of her normally neat closet.

Alex turned to tuck the lacy things in her hands away as she winked at Olivia. "He's doing a lot better. We were just talking about what you should do when you got done with your party." She shut the closet and kissed Gregory's cheek as she fluttered out of the room. "But don't you worry about me. Rose can show me where you keep your car keys."

"Goodnight Alex-" Olivia took her hand she stopped in the doorway to the master bedroom. "Thanks, for all your help."

"We do appreciate it." Gregory piped up as he debated what to do with the nightgown he still help sheepishly in his hands.

"Tomorrow esquire." Alex finished with a wave of her hand.

Olivia shut the master bedroom door and sighed in exhaustion. "Are you all right sweet heart?"

Gregory folded the nightgown, black and lacy, away and stuffed it on his vanity in a ball. "I faked it."

Stopping dead in the middle of removing her tie, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Faked it?"

He sank onto the bed and stared sheepishly up at the ceiling. "I couldn't handle the crowd anymore. It was too much thinking-"

"How do you move, how do you speak, who do you smile at and who do you shake hands with?" Olivia finished with a smile. "You could have warned me."

"For awhile I thought I might not have to fake it." Gregory admitted to the ceiling as he listened to Olivia getting ready for bed. "Your head's a mess."

Olivia pulled her suit off and left it neatly over the back of her chair. Gregory could here her rustling in her closet and then ducking into the bathroom to brush her teeth. He thought about getting up and changing, but instead he just closed his eyes for a moment.

The kiss on his cheek woke him. Olivia smelled clean, like almond soap and toothpaste. He reached up to caress her cheek. "Hello darling."

"Tired?" She settled down beside him. Sharing his quiet gazing into the ceiling.

"A little." Gregory admitted softly as he found her hand next to his on the bedspread. "Not enough to prevent me from enjoying myself a little."

She ran her fingers playfully over his hip. "Hopefully more than just a "little"."

Giggling as he rolled out of reach, Gregory got to his feet and pulled his arms free of his little ivory jacket. "I'll see what I can do." He reached behind himself for the zipper of his dress, but Olivia was off the bed before he had a chance.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him in. "You're beautiful."

"I used to think so." Gregory slipped the straps of his dress down his shoulders. "Then I didn't know what to think. Should I admit I found myself, my old self attractive? Try to get over how odd I felt about my new self-"

Olivia reached around him for the zipper on the back of his dress. "Maybe you shouldn't think so much."

The zipper sang down the curve of his spine and he shivered as her fingers followed it down. "Maybe not." He conceded as his dress slipped down to his feet. "Maybe I should just give in to your manly charms."

"I thought I was prissy." She teased as she kissed her way up his cleavage to his mouth.

Gregory sighed appreciatively as her fingers danced over the bare skin of her back. She stopped and rescued his diamond necklace. She set it carefully aside as he took off his earrings. "Wouldn't want to lose those. I paid a fortune for them once upon a time"

She turned them around, putting him closer to the bed. "They're lovely." Nibbling his ear insisted that she preferred him to any jewelry. Gregory felt the heat tease his skin. When her lips melted insistent against his, he felt good. Better than good. Amazing, pulsing with life. It was intoxicating. She was intoxicating. Every touch of her skin was another sip of liquor.

Olivia undid the strapless bra with a single deft motion of her hand. His nipples responded immediately to the friction of her chest as she pushed him back to the bed. The bedspread pulled free from the corner of the mattress and Gregory felt it bunch beneath him.

Running her hand over the inside of his knee, Olivia waited for her body to respond. Kissing him only added to her need, the tightening as her skin grew unbearably warm. His coolness was the cure, the softness of his flesh was the answer. He moaned, meeting her eyes as the involuntary sound made him laugh. Smiling tenderly, Olivia gave in to the feeling of his legs as he pulled them up for her. Rising up on her knees, she removed the last bit of fabric between them and realized she wasn't sure if she remembered the whisper of silk panties as they slipped free of her ankles.

She hadn't been Gregory for more than a day, and already, his body was hers. Want brought a catch to her breath. Gregory was laughing again as her thumb danced too lightly across his stomach. His tongue apologized as it flicked across her neck. He couldn't help being ticklish, he'd inherited that along with the distracting softness of his breasts. She'd taken them for granted, tucked them into bras and buried them in fabric when they were hers. Now she just wanted to explore them. Run lazy fingers across the undersides as she waited for his skin to grow damp with sweat.

It was already starting in his hairline. Gregory could feel the sweat herald the desperate yearning of his body. Olivia was taunting him, poised as she was between his legs. He didn't remember being impatient. Wishing his body could be controlled, spurred to action whenever he wished it. Maybe the anticipation was worth it. Gregory promised himself as Olivia's fingers teased a groan of surprise from his throat. He bit her lip in retaliation, feeling the sharp intake of air as she grew that much closer. Her fingers found his hands, forced them up, back against the bed. He couldn't move. He couldn't touch her back, or plead his fingers across the muscles of her chest.

He was helpless to do anything but respond to her exploration of the inner softness of his lips. Olivia watched his eyes widen as her knees teased him just long enough to wonder if he was as ready as her body demanded he be. Gregory cried out when she joined them. He writhed beneath her, using his legs to pull her closer when he refused to free her fingers. She continued to struggle slightly, but the perfection of moving within her was too distracting. She dropped her forehead to the bed next to him and concentrated on the moment of her body. Thrust- heartbeat- exhale- retraction- breath-

He kissed her neck, trailing across to her shoulder. Gregory arced up for a moment before using his legs to hold her closer. "Liv-" Her name was a prayer and his thanks. His future and his beginning. Sweat eased the marvel of skin on skin. His hair tumbled free of Bette's careful pinning and joined the rumpling of the sheets.

Olivia caught her breath, and in the pause before she lost it again, "I love you."

His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. He tightened the death grip on her fingers. Her hands flattened his to the bed effortlessly. He pulled, trying to free his hands to sink his fingers into her back. He was trapped beneath her. Safe and isolated from everything but the motion of her body. Glitter dance through his vision. All his perception sank down, terminating in a single thread that waited, breathless, to be unraveled.

Breath won and lost hissed through lips that had better things in mind. In an instant, as they traded fulfillment as seamlessly as they had their souls, Gregory saw her in the eyes that had been his. He heard her in the tremor of his voice. She felt her skin as his hands finally sinking into the flat expanse of his back. His lips were hers as she felt stubble beneath them.

The shuddering, collapse to lay panting on the pale sheets brought them back to themselves. Gregory curled towards her, being out of contact was too disconcerting. Their breath came on the heels of each other, hearts pounded with equal vigor. In that moment, in her arms, he was absolutely content with the floating of his head and the warmth of being pressed into her back. He didn't care who he was, what body he was banished too. When he was with her it was special. Unique and consuming. Their identity was lost in foreplay only to be returned in the poetic quiet that followed. He knew what he was to her. That had remained over all things, she was familiar.

The body was the dream. Her touch was the reality.

Breath slowed in his chest, and eventually his heart calmed. His skin was still on fire. Even the weight of the sheet was "My fingers are still tingly." Gregory complained softly as Olivia found his hand.

"Poor darling." She kissed his wrist and rolled towards him, smiling as the bed creaked beneath her. "It'll go away."

He sighed and ran his hand along the line of her waist. "I like it."

Tucking his hair away behind his ear, her eyes softened further. "Then maybe it won't go away."

He giggled, laughter came easier lately. "Oh really? That sounds like a proposition."

"I'd know better then to proposition you Mrs. Richards." Olivia teased as she arranged his fingers inside her own. "You might just take me up on it."

He pulled his knees up, resting them against her legs. "I love you."

Her thumb brushed against his cheek. "I know that." She pulled up the blanket over the champagne colored sheets. "But I would like to know why you look so concerned."

"Concerned?" Gregory echoed softly as he tried to ignore the presence of her hand on his thigh. "What would I have to be concerned about?"

Olivia knew the quiet denial in his voice. She wondered if it was as obvious to him when she didn't know how to tell the truth. "Are you still upset that I gave you the flu?"

He leaned forward quickly and kissed her cheek, surprising her out of her guilt. "Liv it's all right. I'm fine." He played with the naked skin of his chest as he realized how soft it could be. "Didn't I just convince you?"

She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it thoughtfully. "You might have to convince me again." Her leg slid between his as she rolled him over to kiss him. "In case I didn't believe you the first time."

Gregory surprised himself by wanting to kiss her. It was late. He expected his body to be tired, instead the weight of her above him was threatening to bring the tingling back full force. Olivia kissed him slowly, taking her time to explore the sensations of his mouth. She worked his way down his neck, prompting him to let the sheet slide away from his body as she wandered her way downward. The wet heat of her mouth drew a gasp of surprise as she closed it around a tender part of his breast.

Olivia looked up from his stomach, running her hands over his breasts made it difficult to hear her. "I want to ask you something."

"Hmm?" He opened his eyes with great disappointment as she kept her hands still on his chest.

"About Alex..." Olivia traced a circle over his stomach before trailing a slow line down across his hip.

He bit his lip and reached down to pull her head up to his own. "What about Alex?" Running his tongue over the tender place behind her ear did the same thing he remembered it doing to him. Her eyes were huge and black in the darkness.

"I feel things when I look at her." Olivia admitted shyly, trailing her hand down his chest towards his breasts again.

"Things?" Gregory teased as he raised his eyebrows and buried his hand in the hair on her chest. "What sort of-"

"I've had her, haven't I?" Olivia finally asked as she stopped flirting for a moment and let the conversation grow serious. "I remember things about her- think things when I touch her shoulder."

"You want to play with her hair?" Gregory answered with his own question. How could he explain?

"Not desperately." Olivia clarified as she lay back on her pillow. "Not the way I want you."

Gregory curled into her chest, draping one leg over hers. "I've never wanted anyone the way I want you-" He started to chuckle softly and rephrased. "You've never wanted anyone the way you want me, I mean." The kiss on top of his head comforted him more than anything she could have said. "It was college." He ventured finally. "We spent so much time together, it was nearly inevitable."

He twisted around to look up at her. "It was before I even met you. I'm surprised sometimes, that I still think about it when I see her. But it's just thinking Liv." He pulled the sheet up to his chest as he sat up. "It's not the way it is with you. God- no one's ever been like you."

Olivia pulled him back down to her chest and kiss him hard enough to drive away all of his fears. She caught her hand in his hair, drawing it back from his face as she smiled up at him. "I was just curious. I'm not used to looking at a woman and thinking about what she'd look like when she's out of her clothing."

"Oh-" Gregory felt the blush as Olivia pulled the sheet away from his chest. "I don't look at other men- I mean- I go crazy when you're near me sometimes but you're-"

"The only man I've ever wanted." Olivia's hands ran down his back in a slow line of warmth. "I know."

"I don't want her." Gregory tried to explain.

Crushing his lips with hers made his response unnecessary. Olivia's fingers dipped suggestively between his legs and Gregory nearly melted against her. "I want you." She nibbled his lower lip before she coaxed him higher.

"I thought you were worried about me being tired." Being breathless again was making it difficult to tease her.

Playfully pretending to stop for a moment, she raised an eyebrow. "Nope. I don't think I could let you be tired tonight."

Laughing as he tried to pull away from her touch, Gregory gave her a mortified look. "So that's the way it's going to be-"

Olivia pulled him back and pinned him down again. "I'm Gregory Richards. I get whatever I want." Gregory shivered as she sucked the tender skin of his neck. She released him after a moment and let him take control.

He led her hands to his heart. "I think you have me."

"Always have."


	10. within me

"It'll be all right." Alex insisted again as she squeezed his hand in the waiting room. "We didn't go to your regular doctor, so you won't have to fool her. This Dr. Robinson is very sweet, and highly recommended. I think you'll really like him."

Gregory closed his eyes against the harsh light of the hospital waiting room. He shouldn't have let Olivia keep him up so late. Of course it was nearly impossible to say no once she touched him, but he still felt better blaming her. "What are they going to do?"

Alex thought for a moment as she released his hand to dig up a parenting magazine from the stack on the table. "It's been awhile since I had Casey, but I'd imagine they'll take a blood test and do a pelvic exam to make sure everything's all right."

He'd known her too long not to know that look. "A pelvic exam?"

"I'm sorry." Alex dropped her magazine sympathetically. "I know you've never had one before, just-" She paused thoughtfully, having never had a daughter, she lacked experience with the explanation. "Relax. It's uncomfortable, but it's over with soon enough."

"I don't think I've been relaxed since we switched." Gregory admitted bitterly. "Everything's different for her. I have so many more things to worry about. And everyone looks at me differently." He shrunk closer to Alex and directed her gaze towards a man at the other side of the room. "Like him."

Alex looked him over from the guise of reading her magazine. An amused smile erupted on her face and she put the glossy pages away. Gregory needed all of her attention. "He's been checking you out for awhile now. Pale and mysterious must be his type."

Stunned, Gregory looked to her, and then uncomfortably at the floor instead of at the other man. "How can he look at me like that? I'm not his-"

"And you've never looked at another woman who's not Olivia." Alex teased with deep amusement. "Because you only have eyes for her?"

"No, no Alex-" Gregory stared pointedly at the floor. "Don't I look awful? I feel-" Swallowing again only made him more nervous and he wasn't sure if he was nervous because he was nauseated or the other way around.

""Awful." Alex caught the nod from the nurse and stood up. "You look fine." Studying his face carefully she sighed and amended herself. "A little pale for a woman who lives in California-"

Gregory folded his hands nervously across his chest. Alex couldn't help smiling when she caught the pout in his lips. "My skin's British."

"I know, but even for that, you're a little peaked." She opened the door to Dr. Robinson's office for him. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Gregory closed his eyes while he tried to convince himself it was all some kind of horrible dream. "If by all right you mean I'm not going to throw up right at this very moment, then yes."

Alex put her arm around his lower back. "Trust me okay? You're going to be fine. Really."

Olivia clipped the tip off a cigar and settled into the chair in her study. Bette watched her put her feet up on the desk and burst into laughter. "You're really buying into this man of the house thing aren't you?"

""Cigars are growing on me." Olivia lit the edge and took a puff. "I like his car, and I love the way his secretary comes running at the office. Anything I want and-" She snapped her fingers and grinned around the cigar. "There she is." Leaning confidentially over the desk she grinned evilly. "I think she has the hots for me."

"Who wouldn't?" Bette reached for the cigar box and grabbed one of her own. "You are now, one of the most attractive, intense, craziest, richest men in Sunset Beach."

"But I don't want her." Olivia tapped the ash off and watched the smoke head up towards the ceiling. "This might sound crazy, but I can't stop thinking about me." She chuckled dryly. "Gregory I mean. He's in my thoughts nearly every moment. I can't-" She took another puff and sighed with deep seated contentment. "Focus on what I'm doing. My body-" She glanced down at her lap. "Has it's own ideas."

Bette snorted. "You've only been a man a few days and already, you think like one. Where is the good little wife at the moment?"

Olivia rolled her shoulders lazily and her desk chair creaked as she got comfortable. "Somewhere with Alex. Shopping maybe?"

"Oh that's it." Bette agreed warmly as she took a glass of iced tea from the little counter in the corner. "I remember him mentioning that. Is the poor guy feeling any better?" Bette poured another glass for Olivia and set it on the desk in front of her.

"No actually." Olivia pulled her feet off of Gregory's desk and titled her head thoughtfully. "This bout of the flu hit him pretty hard. I'm not sure if I should be grateful or guilty that it's not me."

"Grateful!" Bette raised her glass and clinked it against her friends. "It's about time he had some idea what women go through. Even if it's just a case of the flu. How's Greggie's body treating you?"

"Oh it's wonderful." Olivia flexed her fingers and them looked at her hands in amazement., "He's so- I'm so powerful. I ask for something and it happens."

"Don't let it go to your head. It'll probably end up to be a dream like that year of Dallas or something-" Bette caught Olivia's confused expressions and shrugged. "I keep telling you to watch more television."

"How can I watch television when I have so many better things to do?" Olivia's gaze drifted to a picture of her new body and her old. After so many years of looking at herself in the mirror, Olivia had never expected to feel the twinge in her stomach when she looked at her cleavage in her neat black suit. She had been such an attractive woman. So lovely and so deceptively fragile-

Bette snapped her fingers. "Get your handsome head out of the gutter. I saw the way you licked your lips-"

Olivia grinned but she didn't bother to apologize. "When do you think they'll be back?"

Bette looked scandalized. "I don't keep track of such things. And especially not so you can do whatever it is you want to do to the poor woman!"

Gregory gasped as Dr. Robinson began the ultrasound. The sensation of the hard plastic probe slipping inside his body was not something he could have properly prepared himself for. His fingers tightened on Alex's hand.

She just smiled down at him angelically from his side. "It's all right. The picture's starting to show up now, if you look at that you won't feel a thing."

Dr. Robinson added his brilliant white smile. "Here we go. We're starting to get a picture now."

Naked fear flashed through Gregory's bright blue eyes, and Alex's heart melted in sympathy. How was he supposed to know? He'd seen scratchy ultrasound pictures of Caitlin, and the slightly improved pictures of when Sean came along a few years later. That had been late in Olivia's pregnancies. He'd already felt them move inside of her. It was already real to him.

More importantly, it wasn't inside his body. The hard plastic wand wasn't inside of him. The tiny beating heart that formed a black spot on the screen wasn't counting on him to be protected and nourished. A pang of guilt ran through him. He'd skipped breakfast, lied to Olivia and said he was going shopping with Alex. He didn't eat anything because the mere idea of it made him nauseous. The smell of Olivia's coffee from across the table turned his stomach.

"There we are." Dr. Robinson called his attention to the screen. Alex ran her hand over his forehead.

"See that sweetheart?"

Gregory swallowed, no one ever called him sweetheart. Why were his eyes stinging? It wasn't painful enough to get to his eyes.

Then without warning, the picture cleared. The gray faded from the mess of his internal organs to a tiny black cave. Inside that black space was a little gray creature. A creature with a huge head, tiny legs and arms that was utterly dependent on him for its life.

His throat got tight. Why couldn't he breathe normally? It was just a picture on a screen. It didn't mean-

Alex and the doctor were talking. He was saying something about eleven or twelve weeks. Eleven or twelve weeks? Gregory mouthed the words to himself. That was nearly three months. Three months and he was only finding out now? Didn't Olivia suspect something?

He tried to run through the last few months in a hurry, trying to catch anything that was missing. She'd been under so much stress lately. Sean was hurt. Caitlin ran off with that no-good jewel thief. Olivia was delicate and things got to her physically. She'd been sick because of everything that was going on outside, not within her-

His hand fled Alex's grasp to settle over his stomach. How could he expect to do this? How could he protect someone who needed him every moment of the day? Someone his heart beat for. Someone he had to breathe for- Gregory was nauseous again. His empty stomach was turning inside of him.

"Mrs-" The doctor was waiting for him. What did he want? What could possibly be important enough to drag his attention away that picture on the screen?

"Mitchum." Alex offered with one of her most dazzling smiles. "Olivia Mitchum. You'll have to forgive her, she's a little-" She winked. "Taken aback. Few women approach middle age and worry about getting pregnant It's a bit of a shock to have a baby on the way and one in college."

Dr. Robinson returned her smile. "I'll give the two of you a moment. I'll gather my paperwork and let you get dressed. I'll make sure you get a printout and a copy of the video. Then we can discuss a few things I think need to be mentioned, diet, your stress level and your blood pressure."

"Of course doctor. That would be great. We just need a-" Alex picked up his pants from the chair and shared a look with the doctor. "Minute."

"Sure."

Alex stood there, holding his pants and waiting for him. The screen was off, but he still couldn't look away. Gregory wasn't even sure if he could speak.

"He said everything is all right with your baby." Alex reminded him as she straightened out the summary of the conversation Gregory had so obviously missed every word of. "The fetus is completely healthy. He's a little worried about you-"

"Oh god-" Gregory finally managed to slip the knot in his throat for a moment. "Alex-"

"Oh honey." Alex left his pants at his side on the table and wrapped her arms around his back. "It's all right. You'll have a lovely video to show Olivia."

That broke the rest of his control.

"Olivia-" God he had to tell Olivia. What was he going to say?

"Darling- you'll never guess what I found out today?"

Alex rubbed his tears away, but fresh ones took their place as soon as her hands were down.

"Liv- remember when we talked about having another baby and I nearly took your head off? Remember when I wanted to close that door so tightly that neither of us would even think about a baby? Remember when I told you I'd die before I let you risk yourself again by trying to have another baby?"

He caught Alex's hands desperately as he teetered on the edge of hysteria. "Well, it seems I was wrong. I'm pregnant. Pass the front page of the newspaper-"

"Shhh-" Alex's whisper promised that he could be all right. "Honey, it's not like that. You'll find the perfect way to tell her."

He shook his head and dark wisps of hair stuck to the tears on his cheeks. "How can I? I don't believe it. This isn't real. None of this-" He started to slide off the examining table, but Alex caught his knee through the sheet.

"Put on your pants." Alex ordered with a little wink. "Pants first, then you can pace and rant about how cruelly and unusually you're being punished."

Gregory looked down at his naked lower half beneath the white hospital sheet. "The doctor made me take off my pants." He grabbed them nervously from her hands. "I'm going to have to do that again. I have to have more exams and go to prenatal classes and wear different clothes and watch what I eat and take naps and let Olivia do all of the driving and watch my stomach expand and have my ankles hurt-"

"Pants-" Alex reminded him firmly as she pressed them into his hands. "Put on your pants first."

"Alex-"

She tapped his cheek lightly to call his attention back. "Remember our chemistry lab? Freshman year when we had to work with all of those chemicals and the directions were awful and you just wanted to go read your law books?"

Gregory nodded slowly, still pouting like a frightened little girl, but at least he was listening to her now.

"I told you to trust me. I'd been working with chemicals ever since I built my first darkroom in the bathtub. I knew what I was doing because I'd done it before."

Nodding again more calmly, Gregory slipped one bare foot into his black pants.

"I had a baby. I lived to tell the tale and I couldn't be prouder of my Casey." Alex retrieved her shoes from the corner of the room. "Again, this time, you're just going to have to trust me. I've done this before."

"In the bathtub-" Gregory repeated a the old story drew a tiny smile.

"Technically-"

Gregory threw up his hand to stop her. "I don't want to hear about the ferry from Cairo or the way the Masai tribesman had to deliver your baby. I don't even know if I'll be able to leave my house."

"Well good." Alex helped him with the buttons of his blouse. "Terror should keep you quiet for the good doctor's lecture."


End file.
